


Bound to the Dead

by BlackWolf2Dragoon



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adult Frisk, Alternate Universe - Monsters Weren't Sealed Underground, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Chara Has Their Own Body, Child Chara, Cute Shit Here, Domestic Fluff, F/F, F/M, Female Chara (Undertale), Female Frisk, Frisk is a Sweetheart, Ghosts, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Character Death, Rating May Change, Soul Bond, Teasing, Undertale Monsters on the Surface
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2018-11-18 14:35:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11292660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackWolf2Dragoon/pseuds/BlackWolf2Dragoon
Summary: Sans and Papyrus move into a lovely new home, ready to start their life anew and begin living their dream. Near their friends and family, the house came cheaply and nearby the city. It seemed too good to be true. Pressuring the land lady, Sans discovers that the house had trouble finding tenants because it was haunted and rumours spread that the building was cursed.Good thing Sans is used to dealing with ghosts. No ghost was going to ruin his and Pappy's dream home and dream life.Written to celebrate author for writing fanfics for ten years come December and celebrate five years on AO3 come November.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You heard it right! I've been writing fanfics for ten years come December. Holy shit I feel old! I feel like I've progressed a lot and evolved my writing a whole lot since I've started. I felt like I should celebrate somehow. So, here we are! I've also been a user on AO3 for five years come November. Holyyyyyy sheeeet. 
> 
> So, I decided to post this! It's been an idea of mine for a while and this was done a while ago. I've begun writing the second chapter and I thought now would be a good time to post it. I was going to have set dates on posting, but honestly... I feel like I'd break those dates and either post too early or too late anyway. So fuckit. I'll post whenever as usual. That seems to work fine enough for people c: 
> 
> I always wanted to use the Soulmates thing. I always wanted to play around with it a bit. I didn't get the chance to add the whole name engraved idea that most soulmate AUs have, but I think I got the rest. I had forgotten about the name engrave honestly, but I think it works fine without it. You'll see why! So, this is sort of my take on the Au or whatever? eh, it seems to work for me :P comment me otherwise! 
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this. This chapter is pretty descriptive rather than very narrative. It's a little different to my usual, but I feel I need to emphasise the environment etc. There may or may not be smut later. idk how that might work, but I'm sure I can think of something! 
> 
> There may be a lot of British context and words in this fic. If you are ever confused, comment and ask! No harm! I'm British and am not aware of how Americans live their lives at all, so I'm going by what I know :P 
> 
> Anyhow, enough rambling~ Let's get this show on the road!

Chapter 1

Sans sighed. This seemed like a terrible idea. The land lady who was meant to be showing him and Papyrus the place was late, and that was saying a lot coming from him. He was often fashionably late, Papyrus dragging him literally out of bed and out of the house was the only reason he was here on time. He knew he should’ve suggested they go to Muffet’s first for food before coming here. This was their best chance at a nice house that didn’t seem to care they were a couple of skeleton brothers who burnt down their last house they rented. That was probably the bigger black mark, the whole burning the house down. Papyrus was quickly banned from cooking without his big brother after that incident. Most took one look at their previous experience from renting, laughed and quickly told them that they liked their building to remain standing. Sans was not at all sure how Undyne managed to find another house so fast the last time she burnt down her house.

_Probably with her spear,_ Sans pondered.

He had a bad feeling about this house the moment they arrived. After Papyrus parked his red sportscar not too far away, Sans felt shivers go up his spine. The place was _wonderful._ A large white house with a lovely front lawn, pebbled pavement leading to the stairs up to the front wooden door, long green grass and a couple of topiaries on each side of the pavement. That’s what attracted Papyrus to this house in the first place and Sans was always a sucker for his little brother. Whilst waiting for the land lady, the pair of skeletons had taken a gander at the back garden, seeing there was a back door leading to the kitchen and the bin stood right next to it. The back garden didn’t have as much going for it as the front garden did, it was a plain grassland that didn’t go too far before it had a fence blocking the way towards the woodlands. There was a whirligig standing in the middle that Sans was sure he’d never learn to use, but his brother probably would. The cream of the cracker? A Japanese Cherry Blossom, blooming pink beautiful flowers near the back of the garden right by the fence. If a kid would climb on the tree, they could get over the fence with ease. It was gorgeous.

Which is why Sans wondered why it was advertised so cheaply and how it hadn’t been rented out yet. It was close enough to the city it wouldn’t be tough to find jobs and yet far enough away to be away from the drama that came with city life. The place had two bedrooms, perfect for the skeleton brothers and yet the house could easily accommodate three or four. The kitchen from the pictures seemed nice enough for Papyrus to ruin with his cooking, but big enough the damage would be less severe.

“SANS, DO YOU SUPPOSE THE LANDLADY IS STUCK IN TRAFFIC?” Papyrus pondered, after they had been waiting for ten minutes by the front door.

Sans gave a yawn, he really felt it was too early to be dealing with this. “eh, probably bro. I’m sure she’ll turn up soon.”

“I’VE NO DOUBT! SHE SOUNDED SO EXCITED ON THE PHONE WHEN WE REQUESTED THIS VIEWING. I DON’T SEE WHY SHE WON’T TURN UP!” Papyrus had a point, Sans reasoned. The landlady’s reaction surprised Sans, a nice house like this just failing to get any tenants with a price like that. It just didn’t add up.

It was then that she appeared, parking her car right next to Papyrus’ car. “I’m so sorry! I got caught in traffic down the M4. Terrible accident!”

_Funny, that’s the road we went down and it was clear._ Sans didn’t buy it for a minute, but he nodded all the same not bothering to try to confront her. It wasn’t worth the effort.

Papyrus, however, leapt into action immediately. “GREETINGS LANDLADY! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, IT IS NO TROUBLE AT ALL!” He stood, proud and chest puffed up. “I DO HOPE YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO GIVE SANS AND I A TOUR OF YOUR GRAND HOUSE?”

The landlady’s reaction was priceless. She flinched, shocked by Papyrus’ over eagerness and his loudness. Sans grinned, every reaction was different, but each amused him. Most humans just don’t know how to react to an over eager tall skeleton. She recovered quickly and smiled, holding out her hand in greeting. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr Papyrus! And your brother, Mr Sans. I’m so happy you both waited for me.” Papyrus took her hand eagerly, shaking it rigorously, whilst Sans stared at her for a moment, before shaking her hand with his left arm. “Shall we start our tour and talk inside the house?”

Sans nodded, holding his arm out in a gesture for her to pass. “ladies first.” She seemed to take a second look at Sans grin, a grin he always had on his face and she hesitated. She nodded, however, and took the first step. After unlocking the door from her mound of keys, she stood into the house, letting the skeleton brothers come in after her as they surveyed the house.

The first room was a welcoming sight. It was quite open, light filtering in from the many wide windows, wooden flooring that Sans was sure got waxed not too long ago and felt like a death-trap waiting for him if he ever dared step on this floor in his socks. To the right with an archway instead of a door, there was the kitchen/dining room. The kitchen itself didn’t seem too big, enough for Papyrus to cook on his own sure and Sans to watch from the dining room table. If they were ever to have a Christmas dinner, however, they may struggle. Considering their close friends were a tight knit circle, however they usually migrated to Tori and Gorey’s house for such an occasion. The dining room was meant for four people, a clear indication that this house was meant to be a family house, a mother and father with their child or two children and nothing more. Sans didn’t see him settling down anytime soon, twenty-five years and still not a soul had claimed his interest. His brother of twenty he was determined to delay that as much as possible. The cooker and hobs only cemented the feeling of a family home, recently cleaned and polished as if it hadn’t been used at all. The chairs were lovely and taken care of, not a mark to be seen even on the cushion pads and the wooden table had not a scratch on it. This didn’t seem right. This house seemed too perfect for the low cost. The Landlady was talking to Papyrus, explaining where the plug sockets were and all manner of inane things that Sans could figure out looking around the house himself. There was a door just at the end of the kitchen counter where you could throw rubbish into the dustbin with ease. The landlady informed Papyrus that the rubbish collection was bi-weekly on a Monday morning, recycling was on the same day bi-weekly when rubbish wasn’t collected. Noted, something useful finally.

To the left from the welcoming room through another archway was the living room. Now _this_ set off his alarm bells. This living room was _perfect._ The same wooden floors carried from the kitchen, welcome room to here in the living room and a lovely large blue rug lay in the middle of the room where a pair of three seater settees and a single seater stood. There was a large coffee table in the middle and a fireplace right at the back. The settees were put in such a way they were facing each other, whilst the single seater was at the end of the table facing the fireplace. There wasn’t a TV in this room, but that was something Sans could easily remedy. It wouldn’t do for Papyrus to miss his celebrity on TV, it was a tradition that they watch MTT Nights together just before bed. The curtains were clearly blackout, perfect for any anime nights Undyne and Alphys would throw with Papyrus randomly, though the pattern on them were nothing to write home about. A plain ochre colour, to match with the cream walls that Sans was sure he wouldn’t be allowed to repaint.

There was an upstairs, straight ahead from the front door. The stairs had lovely carpets on them instead of the death-trap wooden flooring the rest of the house had so far. To the right was Papyrus’ room that Sans left him to go with the landlady. Whilst she was distracted, Sans took a peak in the bathroom to find a basic toilet, sink and shower. No bath, but that suited him just fine. He only showered once a week anyhow. The tiles looked lovely with seahorses and shells barely visible on the blue tiling, the patterns a lighter blue just about standing out.

He left, looking towards the room at the end on his left. What was intended to be his room. He opened the door, seeing that it was a simple room, a double size bed probably a little on the big side for him, but he was entirely too lazy to buy a new bed to replace it. The bed had no quilt on it nor sheets, left blank with a mattress protector it seemed. Or something. There was a desk where he could keep his PC on and an office chair perfect for those long hours sitting at his desktop. He could see it already, how he’d fit into this room with blackout curtains he’d live the perfect bachelor dream. He had a wardrobe he was sure he’d never use, he’d just wear his clothes again soon enough after hanging them up. However… looking at the back wall, something didn’t seem quite right. There was… something a little off about it. Sans couldn’t pinpoint what, but it was nagging at him.

“Ah so, what do you think?” The landlady had apparently grown bored, or worried, with entertaining just Papyrus. Paps was beaming, smiling wide and cheerful as ever. He seemed very excited to take this house.

“SANS, THIS HOUSE IS PERFECT! IT HAS A DESK PERFECT FOR MY BATTLE ARMY! IT’S CLOSE TO UNDYNE TOO!” Darn it. He loved his brother honestly, but he needed some tact to not seem desperate in front of the landlady. This house did seem perfect for them, it was lovely and cosy. But it was too nice, the price didn’t make any sense.

“anything else we should know about this place?” Sans glanced a look at the landlady, noticing she was fidgeting. It was a tiny tell, her fingers not staying still and holding her clipboard right to her chest tightly.

“There is ethernet access, however you will need to bring your own hub or order a new one to be able to use the internet.” She seemed tentative. At least, that’s how it appeared to  Sans. That didn’t seem quite the whole story.

“this house is perfect. so, ya a bad land lady or summat? no way can you not sell this place unless there’s a catch.” Maybe that was a little more direct than Sans had planned, but it had the desired effect as the lady seemed startled.

“O-oh. Well. I don’t…” She sighed. “The truth is, this is a small community. I’ve had a couple of tenants before you and, well. They left soon after a month of staying here, claiming superstitious nonsense.”

Huh. Interesting. “what kinda nonsense?”

“The first tenant said he swore for sure from the kitchen door looking outside, he saw a woman standing outside. He said he had called out to ask how she got there, when she turned around she had deep slashes on her neck and a wide grin. He booked it out of there immediately. The second tenant said his wife had heard giggling in the night and swore she woke up to a child standing there with a knife stuck in her chest, bloodied and smiling at her. They left pretty quickly too.” She coughed, as if she were embarrassed. “Because this is such a close-knit community, everyone has been warned about this haunted house. So, even at this low price, nobody is willing to rent.” She looked to Papyrus, before looking back to Sans. “I wasn’t sure to tell you straight away. I don’t believe in such nonsense, but I didn’t want to scare you off before you see the property.”

There was a moment of silence, as the skeleton brothers take that in.

“OH. IS THAT ALL? MY FAVOURITE CELEBRITY IS A GHOST! I BET THESE GHOSTS ARE JUST LONELY!” Papyrus beamed. “I THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL BE THEIR FRIENDS!”

The landlady looked shocked, blinking a few times to Papyrus. She then turned to the older brother who had a smirk on his face.

“’lax, sweetheart. ya know there are monster ghosts? ghost won’t be a bother in the least.” He gave her a wink, to reassure her. He was just glad it wasn’t anything more serious. Oh, he believed in ghosts alright, spirits and the like were certainly a possibility with the power of human SOULs. But he could see them a lot better than most others could. Only human ones, it turned out. Most couldn’t see a spirit unless it wanted to be seen. Sans must’ve been blessed or cursed as he could see them all over the place. He’d grown used to it, ignoring them like pieces of the background, however every so often he’d twitch when he spotted a man with half a head, or a woman with a shot gun wound still pouring with blood.

Papyrus didn’t find Sans weird for his ability. In fact, Papyrus was happy. Possibly that Sans neglected to tell his little brother that not all spirits were necessarily friendly. Some were, some were lonely and were happy to talk to someone they thought was a fellow corpse. Sans failed to correct them, the only ones believing he was a fellow corpse were children, many of which probably hadn’t seen monsters very often. They talked to him like any other person, finding common ground with him. Some other ghosts however… weren’t so kind. He didn’t want Papyrus to see what he had seen, when children had only half a face and a tongue sticking out as they had been shot by a gun. One stopped Sans from wanting to go on a roller coaster at an amusement park, when he spotted on the exit building the top half of a body of a teenager. He was watching the rollercoaster with wonder in his eyes, even if it seemed clear to Sans how the kid died. Undyne thought Sans was being a coward, but he didn’t want to explain the half a kid sitting watching the coaster. He ran with it.

The landlady seemed much happier with Papyrus’ and Sans’ acceptance of her explanation. She was more grateful that they didn’t run for the hills and agreed to stay at the house. She confirmed with them the rules, handed the contract to the pair of skeletons, handed them the key and they were good to go.

Moving in didn’t take too much time, calling Tori and Gorey for some help to get their items out of storage and officially moved in. It had gone well, Sans got the internet hooked up quickly and his PC. He worked from home most of the time, he was a scientist and inventor and hit fame online when he at first built a simple replica of a hook shot from most video games and hit it big. He never needed to work away from home again, perfect for a lazy person such as himself. His brother Papyrus worked early in the morning as a florist, so Sans was left alone in the early mornings. It didn’t help his sleeping pattern and he was awake for most of the night most days, getting the best inspiration late at night. He wakes up around 4pm most days, sleeping just as the sun rises, or later in the summer depending on when his brother was working. It helped when most ghosts became more active during the night.

The first evening, Sans spent simply answering comments and reading articles. He had ideas, he just wasn’t sure which one to go for. He needed to draw the blueprint and calculate what he would need to create a certain creation. Most requests were weapons from video games, but because of the weapons law, he was only able to create a replica looking weapon and not the weapon itself. The only one he could get away with possibly was a sword, like Frostmourne from World of Warcraft. He always locked his door before he sunk onto his PC, once he had his headphones in and he was listening to music, he was dead to the world. His headphones were very good at noise cancelling.

Nothing seemed to happen that evening, although he felt the house grow cold for a moment, he ignored it. Instead, he grabbed his warm fluffy blue parka and wrapped himself in the clothing. He spent the majority of the night like that, looking up ideas and considering them, when he figured he would attempt a blue print on his tablet. It was easier for him to draw on his tablet and transfer it on his PC if needed than to draw on the PC. He decided that he’d be better off getting some coffee before he got too involved.

Waiting for the kettle to boil, he browses quickly on his phone.

“…s my house.”

Sans looked up, blinking. He was sure he heard whispering, though his headphones weren’t loud enough that he’d hear it from downstairs in the kitchen. He peaked up, having been leaning against the counter waiting for the kettle, but he didn’t see anything. Huh, maybe he was more tired than he thought. A click of the kettle and Sans made his coffee. He intended on staying up a few more hours if he could help it.

“Who’s there?”

Sans flinched. The voice was coming from outside. He’d locked the door, he knew he had. Worried, and maybe a little frightened, he hurries up the stairs and hides around the corner towards his room. He cuddles the mug of coffee close to his ribs as he peaks his head around the corner. He didn’t realise he was shivering, not until he heard his bones rattling and he shook his head. _Get a hold of yourself!_ He waited, watching.

Then, as he was about to give up, thinking he was _really_ tired, the door knob turned. _Shit, had he really locked that door?_ The handle went all the way down, the offender on the other side attempted to push the door open, but it refused to open. The offender on the other side swore, before there was the sound of running away. Sans waited, a good minute or two, before he went downstairs to check it out. Pushing the curtains aside, he looked out to see the streets were entirely clear. There was nothing out there, although he had heard a car passing by as the offender swore and ran away. Perhaps they were scared off just by the fact someone could’ve seen them? Regardless, Sans didn’t feel it urgent enough to call the police (what could they do? The person hadn’t done anything illegal since they never actually broke in) and so he went back to his room. He drew on his tablet, having his music on low just in case the attempted breaker in tried his luck again.

He fell asleep at his desk, drooling on his tablet and woken up by his brother who announced that his dinner was ready. At first, his brother was disappointed in him for his late-night habits, mistaking it for laziness. Turns out Sans was just nocturnal and worked better in his current sleeping pattern. Since he was a monster, he didn’t suffer from the same problems humans did when they shifted their sleeping patterns to become nocturnal. Humans weren’t naturally nocturnal, however Sans found himself at home at night, awake when the bats and owls rule the skies. It helped that when he slept and his pupils disappeared, they wouldn’t react to the light as his pupils would be gone, as if he were blind. He was designed to be a night creature.

He decided to bring up his experience of last night up. Papyrus was a light sleeper, always energetic and an early bird so unlike his brother. He brought it up whilst managing to swallow his spaghetti. Paps had gotten better, the pasta was cooked this time which was a huge plus. “so uh… hey, paps.”

“YES, SANS?”

“did you… hear anything last night?” He asked, although the look he got from Papyrus made him think he asked the wrong question.

“YOUR MUSIC WAS NOT LOUD, BROTHER. I DIDN’T WAKE UP.”

“no that’s… never mind.” He figured Paps didn’t hear anything. It was only a voice that Sans barely heard after all. Just Sans couldn’t discern where the person was, nor the gender or age by voice alone. He had no idea.

“OH, THAT REMINDS ME SANS.” Papyrus took a big gulp of his spaghetti, before he continued talking. It didn’t matter that he had his mouth full to speak, magic made anything possible. “ALPHYS ASKS WHY YOU HAVEN’T GOT A GIRLFRIEND YET.”

_Not this again._ Sans groans. At age twenty-seven, he hadn’t bothered to think about a serious girlfriend. Sure, he had flings now and then, he still had his needs after all. He hadn’t really felt any sexual drive until later on in life, Papyrus was more important at the time after their father’s unfortunate accident. They were both young, Sans twelve and Papyrus was eight. Tori and Gorey took them in, raising them both after Gaster had Fallen Down. Sans had to become the stronger one, the older brother and comforted Papyrus whenever he cried in the night, missing his father dearly. He was always thankful for what Toriel and Asgore had done for him and his brother, but after his father’s death and helping Papyrus, dating just wasn’t an option.

_Not to mention having to explain seeing dead people._ But, truthfully, Sans just hadn’t met the right girl yet.

“you know why, paps.” Sans sighed, pushing his food around with his fork, suddenly losing an appetite.

Papyrus doesn’t seem to reply for a moment. Sans was about to look up, to see what he was doing, when he replied; “I THINK SHE JUST WANTS YOU TO BE HAPPY. LIKE HER AND UNDYNE ARE.” Oh, he knew. Sans knew very well, Alphys was a good friend of his, he just wished she’d drop it. He’d rather no relationship than a bad one, or a rushed one. He was one to believe that romance did not come to those who rushed these things. As a monster, he wore his heart on his sleeve, he’d know if he ever found the right girl. His soul would stop, hitching and become hard to control, his magic would react to her very presence and would prepare him and demand that he mate with her at that very moment, no matter how embarrassing it may seem. His emotions would be difficult to keep in check, he’d feel an intense need to be near her. He’d become extremely overprotective of her along with a need to show how strong a monster he was, to show that he was the perfect mate for her. She’d probably react the same way, the need to consummate their souls together to know they belong to one another overpowering everything else. When they were fully bonded, they could soon try for a child. Some it was simple, others would take years, depending on their magic levels comparative to each other. If one had such higher magic levels than the other, it could take months to years to be prepared. The offspring had similar magic levels to their father usually, so if the mother had higher magic levels it wouldn’t be too much of a problem. The other way around and the child could kill the mother, zapping her energy entirely and killing them both.

That’s what his father warned him, a few weeks before he died. Something he had taught his own brother, the exact words his father told him. So far, Papyrus didn’t seem that interested. Nobody had caught his interest, in the same way that nothing had caught Sans’ eye. However, Papyrus hung out with his friends a lot, he had colleagues he liked to spend time with. Sans had a different lifestyle, having plenty of friends online and his best friend worked at a pub he didn’t visit all too often. He didn’t feel like he needed much more than that.

Neither carried on the conversation after that, Papyrus changing the subject to talk about how his job went. He had a lovely conversation with an old woman who was buying flowers for her daughter’s wedding. She was so excited, to see her only daughter getting married to the man she loved. Papyrus was always good at that, being so welcoming to every single customer that walked through the door. He loved his job, able to talk so enthusiastically about talking to his customers and giving them advice. It was the best part of his job, to get to learn a new story about a person every single day. Buying flowers for a wedding, a funeral, a grave, a birthday present. Sometimes, just for a nice touch. Papyrus always bought some flowers home and kept them in a vase on the table. This time was Tiger Lilies. Daylily, to be exact. When Papyrus explained their meaning, Sans grinned. It seemed unlike his brother to buy that type of flower, one that symbolised coquetry. They were sprouting, wide open and orange. A bright notice me colour, and it was hard not to notice them.

The pair of them moved into the living room, sitting together on the settee as they put Netflix onto the telly. Sans hadn’t had the chance to get an aerial put onto the house yet to get TV, so Netflix was the best they could do for the time being. It was some mindless show, something the brothers could laugh about together. It was a challenge show where contestants had to go through difficult obstacle courses that seemed painful, but were perfectly safe. This was Papyrus’ favourite show and Sans got a kick out of it from the replays and failures. Every night, this would be their tradition before bed and after dinner.

When Papyrus begins to yawn and almost nod off in the chair, Sans would tempt his brother to bed. If Papyrus had a bad day, he would read him a story, just the sound of his brother’s voice calmly reading _Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone_ would help him sleep within twenty minutes. When he was sure his brother was asleep, Sans would turn out his reading light, pat his brother’s shoulder and smile fondly before heading to his room to work.

Tonight, Papyrus asked if Sans could read him. They were almost on the last few pages and Papyrus was sure they could finish it today. Smiling, Sans agreed. Once Papyrus was changed into his pyjamas, the ones he picked were Captain America PJs to go with his Avengers bedding Sans bought him for his last birthday, Sans entered his bedroom. Papyrus adored the red sportscar bed Sans had made for him, snuggled up in the duvet waiting eagerly for Sans to sit on the nearby stool and begin. Papyrus’ room, you’d look at and wouldn’t think an adult lived in it. The books he owned on his bookcase were all young teen books or children’s books such as _How to Train your Dragon, The Chronicles of Narnia_ and _Percy Jackson_ series. His walls were a plain cream, however he had posters of his favourite super heroes, from Superman, Captain America, Hulk, Flash and so forth. Some vintage and comic book looking and some are from the films or cartoons. Even his curtains had Spider man on them. The top of his dresser had his night light and a row of his action figures that Santa (read; Sans) had given him. Sans wasn’t sure if he played with them anymore, sure that his brother probably kept them for decoration. They certainly matched the rest of the room.

Sans sat down on the stool, smiling to his brother. “you ready bro?” Paps nodded eagerly, snuggling down into bed. “okay, now, where were we from last time?”

Laying back, getting comfortable, Sans began reading Harry Potter. They were only halfway through the book, having stopped reading when they were preparing their things to move to a new house. It didn’t take long before Papyrus was sound asleep, eyes shut more like a human’s eye would than Sans’ own and he turned over to face away from Sans fast asleep. Sans smiled, taking a _Fantastic Beasts_ bookmark he got from a book shop and putting it between the pages for next time. He made sure his little brother was comfortable in bed and that he had his Mettaton plushie right by his pillow, just as he liked it. Satisfied, Sans put the book down on the nightstand, wishing Paps a good night and left silently, shutting the light and closing the door quietly.

Standing just outside Paps’ door, Sans stretched his arms up, standing on his tip toes and yawned. Shaking his head, he rubbed his left eye in dreariness. It wouldn’t do to be so tired already, but it felt like a constant companion. Just as he was about to go down the stairs, a chill in the air creeped down his spine. He shivered, bones rattling slightly at the unnatural cold feeling. The same kind of chill in the air when the doorknob had tried to turn from the front door. Panicking, Sans rushed down the stairs, almost sliding on the floor from his bones (he was barefoot most of the time) almost smacking into the front door. He peaked a look through the peep hole, finding nobody there. Sighing in relief, Sans turned away.

Face to face with a child. A child he had never met before. A child with a wide grin, tilted head, red glowing eyes. She was young, eight years old at the most, with short brown hair cut at chin level, wearing a green jumper with a yellow stripe going across her mid-section. She was wearing black shorts and simple black shoes that covered above her feet. She wore a heart necklace, dangling in front of her. She had her head tilted to the side, like she had a broken neck, a wide grin where droplets of blood ran down her chin from her mouth. The icing on the cake? A huge kitchen steak knife the size of her arm sticking out of her chest, directly where her heart was, her soul dangerously close to the blade, but somehow still dancing.

Sans froze, eye sockets blown wide, looking down at the massive knife, blood gushing from the wound, coating her jumper in a crimson/black colour. Then, the child screamed, hands cupping her face. Sans cried out in alarm, his back hitting his door with a loud thud as he tried to get away. The child backed away, red eyes back to normal irises and her eyes began to glisten. As if she were about to cry.

Then, she ran. “Mum! Mum, help me! There’s a skeleton in the house!” She yelled, rushing for the kitchen and she disappeared quickly from Sans’ view. Sans took big gasps of air, fisting his shirt where his soul was trembling. What the fuck was that? That child… where did it come from? Why was she here? It was safe to say he knew how she died if the knife was any indication. But what she screamed. ‘Mum?’ There was another here? He was terrified, yet also curious. The child hadn’t acted maliciously, had merely freaked him out a little with her acting like a living corpse. It answered his question, he recalled the voice of the child was the same one that had haunted him the previous night. Trying scare him out of his own home, huh? At the very least, this was confirmation that this house was indeed haunted. The previous tenants who ran for their lives hadn’t lied.

Taking a deep breath, getting back onto his feet, Sans hurried upstairs to his room, grabbing his blue parka and slipping on his pink slippers. He would be going outside, but the days had been warm and dry. There was no need to put shoes on when slippers were much more comfortable. He grabbed a torch from his drawer, checking it still indeed worked, before he set out to find that ghost child. Maybe, at the very least, he could try to make peace, it’d really make his job all the more harder if the ghost child would try something like that again.

Praying to the stars, Sans took a deep breath, before opening his door and went on a ghost hunt.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans, having been scared by a ghost and scared the ghost in turn, decides that following said child ghost was the best idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry I haven't updated anything in bloody ages. Real life stuff! I know, shocking. I was away on holiday for a week, and immediately afterwards had to prepare my stuff for moving house. Then, when I finally moved, was informed that I'd have no internet for over two weeks. The UK is pretty bad for it. It was tough, but I survived without internet for two weeks. Never wanna do that again, geez. 
> 
> Other updates; don't worry. Inspector Frisk is halfway being written and You're the Monster is almost done. I am still writing, I've just slowed down after moving and working at the same time still. I just haven't had the time!
> 
> Now, I won't ramble on too much, I've left you all so long without an update, so here it is! Enjoy~

Chapter 2

Sans stood at the backdoor, trembling. He didn’t seem to realise he was doing it, unable to stop himself. The child ghost had spooked him a lot more than he thought. He took a deep breath, shaking his head and closing his eyes. _C’mon, get a grip._ He scolded himself. A ghost couldn’t kill him. They could throw inanimate objects, but Sans had the power to control objects and move them, provided they once at some point had a soul. Even the handle of a hammer, he could control for the handle had once been a tree. Even when the soul had died, the residue left behind never went away, only rotting away once the carcass did also. Soul residue seemed to cling to the object, acting almost like the bones of a soul. When a human rots away, the bones are always left behind. Soul residue seemed to act in the same way. Just that Sans could manipulate it, even if he couldn’t see it.

With his torch ready, Sans opened the door and shone the torch outside. Outside was much creepier at night, with the white fence at the back and the whirligig just sitting there and no clothes hanging from it. The Japanese Cherry blossom looked different at night, not as happy, but still just as pink. He couldn’t see anything else besides that, no ghost or anything. She didn’t just vanish, did she? He stepped out into his garden, closing the door quietly behind him. Had she run away out of his garden? He wouldn’t have thought so, ghosts always seem to be rooted in the area of where they died. She must be nearby somewhere.

He felt an urge that, maybe, behind the fence… but this seemed absurd. Sans never felt urges, he was always a careful planner, took things into consideration and thought about his situation before acting. This sudden urge to look behind the fence, a fence which he hadn’t seen the other side of yet. He knew it became woodland from behind, not thick, but if you kept walking you were sure to lose your way. He couldn’t ignore it, however. He felt like he wouldn’t sleep if he didn’t at least make an attempt to find out if she had gone behind the fence.

Determined, he walked up to the fence, trying his best to remain quiet and he pressed his skull against the fence. There wasn’t a peep hole he could take advantage of, but he was a great listener, for a monster with no ears anyway. He could hear whispering, at first, a voice so quiet and so timid Sans could barely hear them. Then, the child spoke.

“But he was real! A live skeleton! I swear, mother!” There she is, talking to apparently her mother on the other side of the fence. And the only way over that fence to get a look was…

_Oh brother._ Sans thought as he looked up the Cherry Blossom Tree. Was he really going to? But, by the sounds of it, he had two ghosts to worry about and one was an adult. The last thing he needed was one of the ghosts picking on his little brother, or making a mess of his workroom. With a heaved sigh, Sans walked up to the tree and attempted to climb it. He had never been very athletic, completely the opposite in fact. He definitely wasn’t fit, couldn’t run for very long nor fast and he sweat so quickly it was a wonder he managed to do the work he could. Metal work you had to be strong to do, maybe not fit but it was a tiring job to be hammering on burning metal for a long enough period. He wasn’t weak, however. Strong enough to be slowly pulling himself up the tree. He was already sweating halfway up, he was panting by the time he finally made it up and spat out the torch he had been keeping between his teeth. Breathing in, he wiped his skull with the sleeve of his parka. _I’m getting too old for this,_ Sans complained.

However, perhaps it was worth it. Sans turned off the torch, spotting a soft light glowing from behind the fence. The light in question was just beside the fence, just out of sight, but it was a glow that Sans couldn’t ignore. It was a soft white, like an ethereal glow of something otherworldly. It wasn’t like anything Sans could describe. He was drawn to the light, like a moth to a burning flame. Carefully, he crawled along the branch of the Cherry Blossom tree. Inching, until he could just about glance the child, but also a human female talking to said child. She had short brown hair, wearing a black tee shirt and jeans despite it being about 3am thereabouts. It was her that was glowing. The moment Sans set his eyes on her, and saw her soul dancing in her chest, he felt his own soul shudder. _What?_ He was surprised by the sudden tug, a pull startling him enough that he lost grip of the Cherry Blossom branch and fell to the floor with a yelp. He hit the ground, not hard, but enough that he was too dazed to move. He’d landed on his coccyx, falling forward and laying there for a while. He hadn’t fallen far and it hadn’t hurt that much particularly, he just hadn’t been expecting it.

A good minute later, he shook his head, clearing his vision and was about to sit up when his soul halted, almost thrusting itself out of his chest immediately and he felt his tongue struggling to manifest itself in his mouth. He swallowed, trying to hold it back the best he could and he gnashed his teeth together for good measure. _Holyshit._ The female human in question appeared shocked, perhaps even worried. Her brown hair reached to her chin, she had lovely kind brown eyes, her skin looked soft as silk and glowing a faint white. Her black tee shirt looked almost grey in the light, it had the Monster energy drink logo on to Sans’ surprise and she wore jeans that fit snuggly around her hips. She wore simple trainers, plain black. Yet, her beauty didn’t come from her body. Sans had never been one to care for that since he had no body himself to give to another. It was her soul. Her floating soul, red with determination, and yet glowing a white glow like an angel from heaven, beckoning him to touch the soul. He couldn’t help but stare, aware that the human was speaking, but he couldn’t hear her. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the soul, calling, humming to him, it almost felt like it were caressing his soul closer. He didn’t realise that his mouth hung open, his tongue manifesting and fangs were glinting in hunger. He only realised when the human began to back away.

_Fuck, get a grip! What is wrong with you!?_ Shaking his head, the glow of her soul seemed to dissipate slightly enough that he could concentrate. He realised then that… ah. He wasn’t going to be standing up. He was thankful he was on the ground. He’d remain that way. At least, until he could get his magic under control enough. With his tongue still manifested and he couldn’t get rid of it, that seemed to be a long wait install for him. He closed his mouth, putting on a grin, _totally chill._ What did catch his attention, however, taking a good look… as lovely as this human was… she wasn’t. Not anymore. Across her neck was a long slash line of where a knife had cut into her neck, looking deep enough that she had almost been decapitated.

This was a ghost. And Sans knew these feelings and these warnings enough from his father to know what they mean. His soulmate was dead, probably had been for years. And yet, she had stuck around, perhaps knowing that her soulmate still was yet to walk the earth, or was waiting for her patiently somewhere else in the world, ready to find her.

Though Sans felt upset that his soulmate had died… at the same time, this was a blessing. Being a ghost, she was more in tune to her soul than humans were. Humans half the time didn’t even realise they had a soul, at least a ghost from what he noticed did, although not as much as monsters. He always seemed to either get along really well with ghosts, or really horribly. It always seemed to depend on how they died. This human, it was very clear to him that she had been attacked, murdered possibly. The lines on her neck too severe, too deep and messy to have been a suicide attempt. She would probably distrust him an awful lot, given the circumstances.

Oh. He should probably pay attention to what she was saying. “Hey, are you okay? You’re… acting strange.” _Fuck, even her voice felt soft as silk._ He could listen to her voice all day. The vibrations shuddering right down to his soul and he really struggled to keep his soul down, to behave. _Not in front of her kid!_ The human equivalent Sans had to guess was like having an obvious boner you show off. Having been to university, Sans knew the expression well and grew quickly tired of it.

_Better answer her, Sans._ He coughed into his hand, giving her his usual signature grin he pulled off to remain casual. He refused to stand up or get off from the ground. “heya, no i’m good.” The worst lie Sans has ever told, he didn’t believe it himself. “your kid there was disturbing my work, trying to freak me out. but guess I spooked her more than she spooked me, huh?” Sans chuckled, hoping it would get this female off his back. This was about as casual as he thinks he could pull off. His soul was going nuts and almost burning in his ribcage, his tongue was pressing hard against his teeth, he couldn’t stand when the kid is nearby.

The woman’s face didn’t seem shocked at all, if anything she seemed fed up. She rolled her eyes, turning to the ghost kid. “Chara, how many times have I told you about scaring the new tenants?”

Chara, huh? Chara whined, shaking her hands about. “But mum! It’s our house! We can’t let them just take it! I don’t care if they think we aren’t here, we are and it’s our house!” Then Chara blinked, turning to Sans with an inquisitive look. It somehow looked accusing as well, what did Sans do? “Hey! How can you see us anyway? Nobody else can see us unless we scare them! You followed me!”

Oh. The kid wasn’t wrong. Her mother looks to Sans, surprise on her face as she realises her child’s point. At least they knew they were dead, this made it a lot easier. Spirits that didn’t realise they were dead were a hard chore for Sans, and even more difficult sometimes for him to realise he was talking to someone nobody else realised wasn’t there. More than once, his friends were worried he was Schizophrenic or something, but he was pretty good at playing it off and calming them down when he slips up. He’d rather pretend it never happened rather than explain he could see dead people. He’d get worried looks, sent to an exorcist or laughed at, neither seemed like better options than playing it off. Besides, he was good at that.

“i uh… since i was born, I can see people who have died, but are unable to pass on. it’s always been a thing I could do. sometimes, I couldn’t even tell if they were dead. not unless it’s obvious how they died.” Sans explained, hoping to calm the ghost pair.

At least, Chara did, as her eyes grew wide and her smile grew huge. “That’s so cool! I wish I had a super power! Hey so, how did you die, skeleton?”

The mother coughed, a smile on her face. “Uh, Chara, dear, I’m pretty sure he’s not dead.”

Chara turned to her mother, eyes wide. “What!? But look at him! A walking talking skeleton! He looks awesome, so scary. I’d love to have had a best friend like that!” She shakes her head, exasperated. “If he’s not dead, what is he then?”

“A monster, dear. Remember? You had a monster friend, don’t you remember? The flower?”

Chara brightened up. “Oh yeah! Flowey was a heap of fun!”

“If a little bit of a pain. I know you were playing video games you’re too young to play. And staying up late in the night.”

“What!?” Chara looked abashed, “how do you know that!? Dad promised he wouldn’t tell!”

Sans watched as the woman’s face suddenly turned into a grimace. His soul thumped as her body appeared to tense up, her fist scrunched together in anger, her eyes piercing in anger, but not at Chara. These were all subtle, Chara didn’t seem to notice that her mother was vexed. Sans only noticed such a thing because he was looking for it. He had been watching her, unable to not watch her, he simply couldn’t help it. His soul twanged, arousal gone after watching the pair talking to each other and the knowledge that someone had angered his soulmate. Not just anyone, Chara’s father; possibly this woman’s _husband_ (Sans wanted to gag, be ill that anyone else had her before him).

However, he felt a slight satisfaction to know that she gave that reaction to Chara’s father. Since there was no male in sight here, Sans could only assume that the woman’s other half hadn’t died along with Chara or her. Sans, however, did notice that her hand was entirely bare. She didn’t wear a ring on her finger, therefore she wasn’t married. Maybe Chara’s father and she weren’t involved at all, hence her reaction? Perhaps there had been a feud long ago that she carried to her grave? By her soul, determine as she was, Sans would not be surprised.

“Mothers know everything, I’ve already told you.” Sans had to applaud her, whilst her mouth was twisted into a nasty grimace, she kept her voice even. “Now, Chara, don’t you have something to say to Mr Skeleton?” The sudden change in topic, clearly the woman wasn’t happy to be talking about Chara’s father. Oh, he had certainly done something to upset her, but what? Sans kept that information secure, he was sure he could find out.

Chara seemed to remember that she had been scolded. She turned to Sans, kicking a stone nearby and looked away whilst muttering a quiet: “sorry.”

Sans couldn’t hide his chuckle. She seemed so off put by the fact she had to apologise. She probably didn’t see it as a big deal, Sans had some experience when raising Papyrus. Even with the help of Tori and Gori, Pap could be a handful if he wanted to be. Sans sat up and began standing, making it seem an exhausting task. As soon as he finally was standing, he held his hand out, smiling to Chara. “s’ok pal, I forgive ya.” Chara looked to Sans’ hand, as if she wasn’t sure what to do with it. Then, tentatively, she took his hand. She then yelped, pulling her hand back as if it- “shocking, aren’t i?” Sans grins wide as he holds his hand up, a buzzer in the palm of his hand.

Chara stuttered, glaring at Sans. “Why you-!?” However, Chara’s mother laughed. Looking to her, Sans knew that he was doomed. She looked divine, her eyes shone, her smile was wide and dazzling. Her soul shone brighter, the brightest soul that Sans had ever seen. So bright, so red and so determined. It was a powerful soul, the most determined that Sans had seen. Granted, he didn’t hang around humans all too often, nothing against them he simply didn’t have a human friend and Papyrus seemed too intense for many to have too many friends besides Undyne. Seeing her soul, however, Sans didn’t stand a chance.

He tried his best, grasping his chest as if it could make a difference, his soul ignored his plea, his effort to trying to keep it enclosed in his ribcage dashed. There, it escaped and his soul began floating in front of him, lighting up the area more than his torch could. Monster souls were white, a small combination of all the human traits merged together, or an absence of them. Both seemed to ring true for Sans. The act of his soul appearing in front of the woman like that, a woman he didn’t even know the name of, was like being caught open with an obvious arousal. In front of her kid. That probably had no idea of monster flirting, Sans felt more thankful for.

The woman, however, clearly did. Her look said it all. It wasn’t one of horror, thankfully or Sans would dust himself then and there, but one of realisation and perhaps discomfort. She knew exactly what this meant, for his soul to be thrown open without her bringing up a confrontation. It wasn’t exactly a secret how soulmates worked with monsters. Rather, monsters were rather open to the fact of soulmates, it was always a very exciting time for any monster when they find their soulmate. It wasn’t exactly appropriate for you to throw your soul out to your soulmate immediately, though monster partnership did come together quickly and without hesitation. Monsters being very in-tune with their souls didn’t need to date or take the time to think about marriage, being soulmates for most was good enough to count as a marriage. Monster and human, however, weren’t so fast. Monsters usually waited to proclaim that they were soulmates to human partners, as humans were more in tune with their emotions than their souls. They didn’t know the feeling of being certain in another’s feelings. So, for this woman Sans didn’t even know the name of to find out they were soulmates… it must’ve seemed similar to if Sans got down on his knee and proposed right away when they didn’t even know each other’s names. He was afraid of her reaction more than anything. He was worried that she might scream, run away, or want to avoid him entirely. She knew, he wouldn’t be able to help himself, he would be in agony if he actively tried to avoid or ignore her. The downside to having to have to have a soulmate and finding them, if you were rejected, the chances were you’d never come out the same again. You’d probably never recover from such a thing if you were a monster. Monsters had been dusted for that, suddenly turned to dust like a vampire in the sun, because of rejection. Hence, soul mating with a human wasn’t just a pain or worrisome, it was potentially deadly.

The woman looked to Chara, clearing her throat. “Chara, can you be a dear and go play somewhere else for a moment? The skeleton and I need to talk. Adult talk.” Oh, not what Sans had entirely expected honestly. However, that didn’t necessarily mean it was a good thing on his part. He could feel sweat beading off his skull, his bones were rattling that he couldn’t stop from being so nervous and his soul wouldn’t stop shining and _dancing!_ By dancing, moving side to side. Sans’ version of a dance.

Chara looked to their mother, surprised. “What, but I’m old enough!”

“No, you are not. And you never will be either.” Was that a…? “Now, go on and play, okay?” Let it be known this woman had the morbid sense of humour. Just the way Sans liked. That much he could be grateful for, he wouldn’t accidently insult her with his terrible jokes.

Chara let out an exaggerated moan. Loudly. “FINE. Whatever, didn’t care about your stupid adult stuff anyway.” She grumbled before padding away and… phasing through the fence back towards his house.

Sans blinked. “Oh, sorry about her.” The woman spoke again, a tentative smile on her face. “She’s never too friendly with strangers, and lately it feels like her mental state is turning into that of a teenager. Despite the fact she’ll never reach that age.” She did seem downtrodden about that fact, but Sans figured it was only natural. He didn’t think, if he could ever turn into a spirit, he’d ever get over the fact you never lived your life to the fullest. At least for your child, if not for yourself.

Sans chuckled, still nervous as he ran a hand over his skull. His sleeves caught the beads of sweat that he was sure the woman would judge him for. But he already showed off his soul to her, so at this point it was a minor matter. “heh. it’s okay. though, sorry about the… ya know.” He gestures to his soul, still floating happily and point-blank refusing to get back into his chest and hide away. The woman’s did react, but she was stronger than he was, it seemed. It did, however, struggle, that he could see. She wasn’t untouchable, it would seem.

The woman shakes her head, a sad smile on her face. Sadness not for herself, but for Sans. He shuddered. “It’s not your fault, you can’t help what you can’t control. I’m… well, I’m sorry too.”  She runs a hand up and down her arm, looking slightly down. “I’m probably not your perfect idea of a mate, considering my… condition.”

Sans’ head perked up, shaking his hands in denial. “no no! that ain’t it! just… I ain’t ever had a date before, let alone…” The woman’s face looked up, understanding dawning on her. “and er, since ya got a kid I thought…”

“Oh! No, that won’t be an issue. Don’t worry, Chara’s father is… well, he won’t be coming back.” There was a finality to the woman’s voice, but she seemed tight lipped, like this were something she didn’t want to talk about. _Yup,_ Sans thought, _definitely issues._ However, he was pleased with this outcome. Nothing to get in the way, since the woman had just announced she was indeed on her own. “Regardless, I mean I know you can’t help who you choose, but I’m certainly not the best choice.”

Sans’ soul visibly lowered, downtrodden and dimming. This… she was rejecting him? Was she? It sure sounded like it. Sans began to shake, but she couldn’t! Why would she? Well, it was early and quite sudden, but she hadn’t even given him a chance!

The woman seemed to see Sans’ distress very quickly. It was obvious in his soul dimming, not floating or dancing anymore and the poor thing was shaking like a leaf. She was quick to fix her mistake. “No, I don’t mean…! I’m not rejecting you!” Sans stopped. He blinked, then looked up in confusion. His soul brightened slightly, giving himself away. _Curse you!_ “I mean… I was a human, but I’m a ghost now. Isn’t that… a little…?”

_Oh._ Sans grinned, his soul brightening and dancing again, much to his embarrassment, but it had a mind of its own now and refused to listen to him. “eh, don’t worry, doll. ya know one of the biggest monster celebrities is a ghost. sure, not a human ghost, but still a ghost. I can see ya soul, sweetheart, and it’s having a tough time not dancing with my own.”

The woman blinked, grasping at her chest as if to hide her soul away from his eyes. Though, he couldn’t help it, it wasn’t like he could just turn off this power. He’d love to be able to choose not to see ghosts, but there you have it. Life was a bitch. “You can… I can just about feel it, I have since I passed on. I’m still not really used to it, even after these few years.”

So, she had been dead for a few years. Somehow, that depressed Sans, to be stuck here for a few years with your child, unable to go anywhere but watch your house be lived in by other people and slowly forgotten about.

“sure hasn’t been affected by whatever happened to ya.” She seemed to blink. “the neck nearly sliced off gave ya away, darlin’.”

She was silent. She knew what he was talking about, that Sans knew she didn’t die of natural causes, nor was it a suicide attempt. Something traumatic had happened to her, but her soul was still a bright crimson, refusing to back down.

“I won’t ask until ya ready. s’not my business.” Sans shrugged, keeping his easy grin on his face.

The woman smiled, relieved and her soul calmed down, almost like it was making the action to sigh, without actually being able to sigh. “Thank you, Mister…?”

Sans smiled, holding out his hand. The one without the buzzer on. She deserved that much. “sans, sans serif. and I got a brother I’m living with, papyrus.”

The woman smiled brightly, and Sans swore that if it could happen, the clouds would open up and the rays of heaven would descend on this gorgeous woman and angel feathers drop on her, a blessing that she was. Oh, no that was just his soul growing brighter. The woman didn’t seem put off, in fact she giggled at Sans’ obvious plight, but shook his hand regardless. “Frisk. Frisk Baker. And my child is Chara Baker. She was ten when… well, at least she’ll never fall into the trap of getting older.”

“that bad being a spirit?”

Frisk seemed to think for a moment. “Not really, I don’t mind it all too much. It’s nice to have some peace and quiet. I was never a very social person, and I can people watch without being bothered. There are plenty of animals to watch back here in the forest, so Chara doesn’t get too bored. We can go as far as the end of the forest, to just about the centre of town before it gets too uncomfortable for us. I haven’t seen another ghost, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there are others.” Frisk sighed, looking to where Chara had phased through the fence. “I’m just upset that I couldn’t save my daughter in time, before the same thing happened to her. It’s what any mother would’ve wanted. Even if, deep down, I’m glad I’m not alone here.”  Frisk smiled sadly. “Guess that makes me a horrible person, huh?”

Sans shook his head, looking up to her with wonder. “no. I think that’s normal. As much as I love paps, I’d sure miss him if I became an invisible dust speck but could see everything.”

Frisk had to laugh. She hadn’t meant to, but the comparison was adorable. Sans grinned, glad to have made her laugh. It was sort of part of the plan, to get her to cheer up at least.

After a few moments of silence, when Frisk calmed down a little bit and Sans was still staring at her like she was one of the eight wonders of the world, she spoke; “Okay. I’m… I’ll admit, I’m nervous. My last and only relationship didn’t go very well at all, but I want to try. I… I do feel like… like I can’t say no. Like if I say no, I’ll just not exist, I’d cease to disappear.”

Sans nodded. “that’s how I feel. but there’s no way I’d say no anyway, not to a gorgeous lady such as yaself.” Frisk smiled, blushing slightly, _apparently spirits could do that,_ Sans noted.

“You’re such a charmer. I’m surprised you’ve never had a relationship before.”

Sans shrugged. “never found the one. But now I have, I can’t look at another like that again.” He wasn’t just being cheesy, it was the truth. His soul wouldn’t allow him to, not that he wanted to. He could only imagine how playboy monsters would feel, having to deal with a change such as that. Or if a monster’s one ended up being a playboy. Ouch.

Frisk nodded. “I can believe that, if I’m feeling even a fraction of what you’re feeling.” Frisk took a deep breath. “Look, I’ll try. I want to try, but I’ve been burnt badly before. I know it’s not fair on you, but you don’t mind if we go slow? I just…”

Sans nodded his head, smiling. “it’s okay. I want to go slow too. I mean… I don’t really know what I’m doing. My brother is probably gonna be telling me what to do.” Then his eyesockets widened, his brother! If his brother ever found out… “oh. My brother, he knows I can see spirits, he’s been so excited to see me find my soul mate but…”

Frisk understood. “You’re not sure how he’ll take the fact you’re soulbound to a dead person.”

“gee, tell it to him like that and it makes it seem like a deathwish.”

Frisk smiled, “Sorry.” She knew from the way he reacted that he was joking, his wide grin and dancing soul was too obvious. “Your soul is so pretty and bright, but you might want to put it away. It might attract attention, and I don’t want to see how that’ll turn out if the cops ever come here.”

Sans grinned, the idea was funny, but she had a point. With a lot of force power and a lot of will he didn’t think he ever had, his soul eventually calmed down enough to float back into his chest, through his parka. He looked up to Frisk, grinning, then he frowned as he noticed the sun was beginning to come up. “do you disappear during the day?”

Frisk blinked, then looked to the sky to see, indeed, the sun was beginning to rise. She shook her head to Sans, “No, but it’s rather painful to be around during the day for me. I tend to hide away, I was always more of a nightowl personally. Chara seems to be fine during the day, though. She doesn’t often come out, she finds it too boring, but hey. She might with a new friend.”

“Say wuh mum?” Speaking of, said child came running out of the fence, straight to Frisk’s side. “You done with your dumb talk now? Sun is coming up and I’m tired.”

_But you’re a ghost how are you tired?_ Maybe Chara meant it as a figure of speech, Sans pondered.

“Okay, Chara. Let’s get to bed.” Frisk smiles to Sans one last time. “It’s very nice to meet you, Sans. Would you like to meet up again tomorrow night?”

Sans grinned ear to ear. “of course, you able to come over the fence this time?”

Frisk smiled. “Might mean less embarrassing falls, eh?” She winks, laughing slightly. Sans blushed blue, though he was proud he managed to keep his soul inside his chest this time. With another farewell, Frisk and Chara just faded out.

Sans let out a deep breath, his soul finally calming down. He didn’t feel any pain by her departure, after all she wasn’t truly gone, she was simply… sleeping, Sans guessed was the best word for it. His soul was able to relax, even if she wasn’t there, because he knew she was alive and safe. After all, she couldn’t die, so he didn’t have that to worry about.

As he walked back into the house, he pondered how he was going to tell Papyrus about his night adventure. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell him just yet. Judging by how nervous Frisk was, Sans wasn’t sure telling his brother immediately would be the best idea. He wanted to, Lord knows he wanted to. At the same time, he knew his brother would want to help the best way he can, telling him how and how not to date Frisk. Whilst Sans loved his brother to the world and back, he wasn’t sure he was ready to receive the tips Papyrus would give him. Maybe he should wait a day or two.

Heck, telling Papyrus the house was haunted was daunting in the first place, given that Papyrus… whilst he never seemed nervous about ghosts, he certainly was wary of them. It was probably because of past experiences and warnings Sans gave to him, not all spirits wanted to be your friend, but not all of them were horrific either. Same goes with any human really. Only a spirit is much more difficult to deal with, since there isn’t really a police or Ghostbuster you could ask to help you. An exorcist, maybe, but they seemed just as nutty as ghosts half the time, in Sans’ experience. If they could even expel ghosts.

Sans got into his bed before Papyrus had begun getting up and ready for work. Usually he was up at the crack of dawn, but maybe Sans got there just that little bit earlier before Papyrus would wake up and see his brother still awake. Papyrus would give him hell for that.

With a smile on his face, Sans got comfortable into bed, ready and waiting for it to be night time quickly again so he could meet his soulmate and have a proper conversation with her. Without his traitorous soul this time, hopefully.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this story is gonna turn into a bit of an experimental writing. I've ALWAYS wanted to write a Soul Mating fanfic. I love the idea! But I'm not very good with sweet things, I've always felt more at home in the flirty area rather than the full on romance. So, this'll be a tricky task for me. This might get a little dark (honestly, when do I not write dark?) and go into the bad areas of Soul Mating, but it'll overall be less of the whole flirting and such and more about the actual connection and being more friendly rather than a confrontational relationship. That's my goal, anyway. Let's see how long that lasts :P
> 
> Maybe one day I'll write an alpha/beta/omega fic too. I'd always wanted to write one of those too, but PWP is also not my strong point xD I love to write loads of bad things I'd be fucking terrible at good God. 
> 
> Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Until next time, now that I'm finally back on the internet world and writing again~
> 
> ~Blackie


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans wakes up and his brother reads him like a newspaper. The pair have a talk, Sans telling him how he met Frisk and his plans for the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter did not want to write. When it was finally written, I still hate it. But I don't have the energy nor patience to change it. xD it's staying like this haha
> 
> It's very domestic, very little happens, it's very boring. Sorry! >< Also sorry I took forever to update this >> it didn't want to be written. It's finally done and we won't speak of it again xD

Chapter 3

“SANS! I’M HOME!” Sans stirred from his sleep as he heard Papyrus announce his arrival. He always did announce, just it was a lucky dip whether Sans hear it or not. This morning, he stretched his legs out behind him, struggling to wake up and shake his head from the fog of drowsiness. He found it hard to want to leave his bed, but he knew he had been in bed long enough already. His soul felt pretty at ease compared to other days. He slowly began remembering what happened yesterday. He hadn’t gotten any work done, because a ghost had paid him a visit. When he went to follow one to tell them to keep the haunting down, he ran into his soulmate. His soulmate who floated and haunted his house, along with her child. He knew this much: his soulmate had been murdered. Whilst she had never said anything, he knew by the looks of her injuries and the fact that Chara sported injuries that match his theory, the pair of them had been cut down. Chara had been stabbed, left to bleed out, whilst Frisk had her neck cut almost clean off. If he could, Sans was hoping he could probe further into finding out what had happened.

Papyrus stomped up the stairs, he tried his best to be quiet but sometimes he just doesn’t know what quiet is. Sans had gotten used to it. He heard a knock and he murmured something unintelligibly. Paps opened the door slowly, peaking in and spotting Sans was indeed awake, laying on his front and his head propped up on a pillow enough to watch the door. He did look like he just woke up, his pupils still dim.

“AH, STILL COSY? HOW DID YOUR WORK GO LAST NIGHT, BROTHER?”

Paps was always eager to hear how his work goes. Paps loves all the work that Sans makes and is always very eager to see what he has made next. He did have a line of commissions to make, but he had put them entirely to the side after he was spooked by Chara. Was he going to explain it?

Well, he is rather shit at lying. “ah. ha, well, I got a bit distracted last night paps. turns out the lady was right. this place has got itself a ghost living in it.” He kept a neutral grin on his face, it was his poker face.

Paps, however, was over the moon to hear. He’d always wanted to see a ghost, or at least experience a real haunting. “OOOH REALLY? ARE THEY A FRIENDLY GHOST? DO YOU THINK THEY’D BE MY FRIEND? WHO ARE THEY?” Papyrus railed off, one after the other quickly. He could barely contain his excitement, a ghost and maybe something he could finally see! Something his brother could do without trying and never told him what they do, what they look like or anything. His brother, always doing his best to protect him.

Sans faltered. He wasn’t sure if Chara would ever show herself to Papyrus, even if he did mention him to her. Or, at least, she seemed to know about him. She had mentioned that there were multiple people living in the house, so he assumed she must know of Papyrus presence, at the very least. Well, the least Sans could to was tell him the truth. “dunno, I told the lady about you but the little one seems to already know you are here.”

Papyrus stops, squinting at Sans. Sans tensed. Usually Papyrus did that when he caught a lie or didn’t believe Sans. Or thought Sans was telling a joke he wasn’t quite getting. “OH MY GOD. THERE ARE TWO GHOSTS LIVING HERE!?” Oh. Yeah, he did forget to mention that earlier, hadn’t he? “OH, BROTHER, YOU MUST INTRODUCE THEM TO ME ONE DAY! I’D LOVE TO MAKE NEW UNDEAD GHOST FRIENDS! THEN I CAN SAY I’VE MET MORE GHOSTS THAN JUST METTATON.”

Sans smiled, Papyrus was always out looking for new friends. He wanted to be so inclusive though few could handle his extrovert self. Though, as long as Papyrus was happy, Sans was satisfied. “I’ll be sure to mention it to her, paps. she’s shy though, give her time and I’m sure she can-” He stops when he spots something moving out of the corner of his eyes. He wasn’t sure, but he could have sworn he saw blue…

“IS SOMETHING THE MATTER, SANS?” Papyrus’ concerned voice had him turning back. Maybe he had imagined it. Sans just shakes his head and smiles, letting Papyrus know that he is okay. Then Papyrus squints. He’s studying Sans long and hard. Sans stops smiling, tilting his head in confusion and concern.

“is uh… something the matter, bro?” Very rarely does Papyrus study him like he is now. Even more rare when he is quiet whilst doing so, with such concentration that Sans hadn’t seen on his brother in a long time. He hadn’t been hurt anywhere, apart from falling from the tree, but he was sure he recovered quick enough from that. What could possibly…?

Then Papyrus gasped, almost in horror. His two hands pressed against his wide-open jaw, then he points at Sans in an accusing manner. Leaving Sans more confused and a little worried than ever before, Papyrus then put his hands on his hips. Paps did this whenever he was giving Sans the lecture. What the hell had he done this time? Probably left his sock in the washing machine again.

“YOU’VE SEEN SOMEONE! AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME!” Papyrus looked cross and Sans couldn’t help but feel shameful for something he wasn’t even sure he had done. What was he talking about?

“met someone? bro, I meet people a skele-ton. mostly online.”

Papyrus, however, didn’t seem satisfied with this. “YOUR SOUL SAYS OTHERWISE, BROTHER.” His soul? Well, he couldn’t look down and see his own soul really, and he didn’t want to bring it out in front of his brother. Not when he was sure he saw something move again. He saw it in the doorway, he was so sure of it. “SANS. YOU MET HER, DIDN’T YOU?”

Sans blinked. He was really distracted, and he needed to focus on the task at hand. His brother was saying something about meeting someone. “her? I dunno what you’re talking about.” He was being honest. He had no idea what his brother was talking about. Not with the way he was talking.

“DON’T PLAY DUMB. YOU MET YOUR SOULMATE!” Oh _shit, he knew!?_ Sans’ eyes widened, giving himself away entirely and Papyrus nyehehe’d. “NYEHEHE! I CAUGHT YOU OUT, BROTHER! YOU HAVE BEEN JAPED BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” Papyrus was a lot more perceptive than Sans gave him credit for. No, Sans knew exactly how perceptive his brother really was. That’s why Sans always tried to be super careful, but never actually succeeded. He kept forgetting actually that Papyrus was a rather calculating individual, whilst he could be very excitable and played off as a child, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Sans had fallen into his little brother’s trap more than once. Whenever he saw a headless ghost passing by, a child with an axe imbedded into their back, even once the worst a baby that had been flattened and had tire marks across their body where a car had obviously run over them. They floated up and down the very same road he had been hit on, some road Sans couldn’t visit ever again, their intestine and entrails dragging across the floor behind them. Sans almost vomited then and there, but he could never forget it. He didn’t want to tell Papyrus what he saw. Paps respected that, but told Sans to never hide the fact he saw something disturbing, a ghost that was cruel, or one that upset him. No matter how hard he could try, Sans could never hide something from Papyrus for very long. He kept forgetting this fact. “HOW COME YOU NEVER TOLD ME?”

Sans stuttered at first, trying to find his words. It felt like that time his tongue conjured up unwillingly, the first time he tried to speak to Frisk upon seeing her. He gulped, taking a couple of breaths, before he attempted to speak again. “bro, it… it only happened last night.” He couldn’t lie to him. He was hoping he wouldn’t have to tell his brother yet, but there was no avoiding it. Papyrus was just too good.

Papyrus blinked, his arms fell. Then, a contemplative look, the same look he would get when trying to puzzle out Sans newest inventions or weapons he creates. His eyes seem to widen. “LAST NIGHT? But you said… you saw a ghost last night.” The way his voice became more distant as he said the words out aloud, Sans knew that Papyrus had already figured it out. And it took only an hour, if even. He’d been awake an hour and already Papyrus figured it all out. When did he become so terrible at hiding his life away? Correction; when did Paps become so good at figuring stuff out just by _checking_ him? “WHY, YOU’RE IN LOVE WITH A GHOST!”

Well, when he said it like that. It did sound rather ridiculous. “well… more like, bound eternally, sure bro. ya got me.” He smiled nervously. He couldn’t deny it. He was already sweating talking to Paps about this and he wasn’t even giving much detail away.

“BUT THIS IS FANTASTIC! BROTHER, YOU HAVE FOUND YOUR SOULMATE!” Papyrus looked like he was going to burst into tears, his eyes growing big and wide. He was doing that adorable face, the one he used to do a lot as a child when he wanted to get his own way. When he wanted that one extra cookie. He rushed up onto his feet and around the table. Sans, fearing what Papyrus would do, scrambled to get off his chair, only to be lifted in his brother’s arms and crushed to his brother’s chest. He was used to this, his brother every so often became rather boisterous and didn’t hold back when it came to his brother. Sometimes Sans did get startled by his brother’s excitement. He lay there, taking in his brother’s affections, though he was smiling. He couldn’t help it, he was just always happy to hear that Papyrus himself was always happy.

He couldn’t help smiling because Paps was right. He had found his soulmate. “yeah, she’s pretty amazing. rather quiet, but I’m sure she’ll warm up.”

“I HAVE TO TELL UNDYNE THE GOOD NEWS!”

“wait!” Sans stopped his brother, worried that Frisk didn’t want others to know. After all, nobody would be able to see her if she didn’t want to be seen. Sans wasn’t sure if there was an unspoken rule between ghosts and spirits about that. “i haven’t told her about undyne or alphys yet. she’s really shy and doesn’t like to be crowded.” Otherwise, he could explain later that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with him yet. Papyrus probably didn’t know that humans didn’t get so comfortable together as quickly as monsters do when soul mated.

Papyrus calmed down. He nodded, told his brother that he understood, then went on to ask how the meet up went. Sans struggled. He pondered, was it worth telling his brother everything that had happened? The Chara child was no problem, telling him of how Frisk looked so wonderous, like an angel that had fallen from heaven, her wings invisible but waiting to be shown. Her halo may have been taken, but the white shine that Sans remembered seeing so fondly was forever cemented into his memory. She was that, an angel, having been murdered and was now trapped with no way out. Or, perhaps, had she been trapped here because of him? Because she was his soulmate? Or was she seeking her murderer’s sentence, wanting justice to be served for the horrific crimes he had committed? Sans couldn’t say.

He told Papyrus about Chara, the playful prankster that loved to play jokes, however creepy they may be, were ultimately harmless. He described her the best he could, a young child before their teens who was rather down to Earth and rather blunt in saying how it was. They were of that age of course. Brown mop of hair, a green and white striped tee shirt and seemed rather androgynous but Frisk, their mother, had called them a female. Sans ‘forgot’ to mention the fact that this all started because Chara scared the shit out of him, suddenly appearing before him as he turned and saw a wide black smile with blood dripping from their stab wound with the knife still imbedded in their chest. It seemed hilarious now that Chara had been just as scared of him as he had of her. She’d run out screaming for her mother, all the while Sans backed away as far as he could to the wall trembling with fear.

He ‘forgot’ to mention that his soul jumped out dancing in front of Frisk as well. No need for Papyrus to know _that_ little tid bit of detail. Like telling him you sent a dick pic over a phone and got together somehow. Only, his soul popping up and dancing in front of him seemed a lot tamer compared to, you know. Instead, Sans told Papyrus that he had managed to keep his soul at bay, stopping it from popping out and embarrassing himself in front of the kid. He’d kept his strength up, had told Frisk straight up that they were soulmates and that Frisk took it about as well as monsters did. Surely, Papyrus wouldn’t know the difference. He didn’t have human friends, he didn’t know how humans do react to when they find soulmates, he’d never notice.

He failed to notice Papyrus’ disbelieving quirk of his brow, failed to notice Papyrus went along with his badly done lie with his usual wide smile and look of wonderment and shining eyes. He excitedly asked how Frisk took it, what she did, how they were going to spend their first date. Sans admitted that he’d meet her tonight and probably talk about it some more. They hadn’t really had the time to discuss more as the sun began to claw its way up into the sky, cutting their time together short.

The pair of brothers talked well into the night, sitting on their sofa together with Mettaton’s latest show in front of them. It was background noise whilst they discussed Sans and Frisk as a couple themselves and what being soulmates would mean for the pair of them. There was a lot to consider, and something Sans mentioned already that it was very likely impossible that they would be able to provide offspring. It was possible with humans normally, as their body could hold the soul and nurture it until it grew a form over months, and then gave birth normally when they grew to a comfortable birthing size, no matter the monster. Human souls were a lot more powerful than monster souls, and so hybrid monsters would be more human than monster. They were rare, it didn’t always work, sometimes the causes could be fatal and monsters did they best to avoid this wherever possible.

Because Frisk was a ghost and her life had ended, she was only a soul projecting her previous body image as her body. Her soul had remembered it and took it as its form. In reality, that’s all she was. A floating soul. She didn’t have a physical substance to her, if Sans was to touch her, he’d probably feel like he was touching something if he gave Frisk enough warning. He was sure, if he tried to touch her without her knowing, his hand would go right through her without touching anything. Frisk could unconsciously fool his mind into thinking it was touching something, but only whilst she was aware of it. So, Sans let him know that it was very unlikely to expect a child, so Papyrus probably wouldn’t become an uncle. Though, perhaps to Chara he could, if he and Frisk got along well together. He did tell Papyrus nothing concrete had been settled, there was still plenty of talking to be done before anything can be set in stone.

After their show that they had talked through entirely, Sans put Papyrus to bed in the same fashion he always did. He didn’t think about the movement he thought he had seen at dinner again, having forgotten it entirely whilst he was talking to his brother. He hated lying to his brother, hated to not be able to tell him everything, but he wasn’t sure how Papyrus would take it. He viewed his brother so highly, Paps did, what would he say if he knew that Sans was a weakling, couldn’t keep his soul out of his chest and shone and danced it in front of Frisk, in front of Chara! That would never go down well for Paps, he’d be horrified, he was sure! Nobody else could know. Undyne would never let him hear the end of it and Alphys… would actually love to hear more about it and draw it out for her comic books. Alphys always surprised him, the quiet one that loved all the kinks rather than the loud Undyne.

When Papyrus was finally asleep, Sans snuck down into his workshop, back to working on his commissions he had not worked on at all yesterday. One he’d been given was to be a centrepiece, a birthday present and the deadline was looming over him. He had only a few weeks left to finish it before the birthday was coming up. He was creating a katana, but the real beauty in the blade was the handle. The handle was to be made with red wood, moulding a silver tiger curled over where the blade and the wooden handle met. He was working on the handle now, trying to be very gentle and careful in creating the tiger. He’d charged the man £500 for the weapon and he seemed more than happy to pay.

Sans kept the silver at a high heat, taking it off and on to shape the handle out properly and concentrating so hard that he didn’t notice someone else had entered the room without his say so. His door was locked, he always did just in case, and he thought he flipped the sign to say he was working on something dangerous. Of course, why would a dead person care if you were working on something dangerous or not?

“Oh cool! This sword looks fucking rad!” Sans twitched, pulling his hand back quickly as to not ruin the pattern as he lifted his wielding mask off his face. Flabbergasted, he turned to see Chara was lifting a large bastard sword he had only made to test out his new furnace. It wasn’t for sale, but he hadn’t made it for any other particular reason other than to see and test out how well his new furnace performed. He hadn’t given the sword to anyone, he just kept it as a memento of sorts and hadn’t done anything about it otherwise.

Sans puts down his instrument aside away from Chara’s prying hands and quickly goes to her side to get the sword out of her hands. “hey, that’s very heavy! And expensive! It’s not a toy.”

“Aw, c’mon skeleman. I’m dead, how much damage could it possibly do?” Chara pouted, watching as Sans took the sword away and popped it back in its rightful place. “Watcha doing?”

“well, I _was_ working on my commission work, a katana sword for a customer. He’s giving it to his brother for a birthday gift and I’ve got to get it done in a few days’ time to get it done ready for shipping.”

“Oh, you mean that sharp sword there?” She tried to get to the katana Sans was working on. Until he stopped her, getting in her way, though she could just run through him, his movement startled her enough for her to stop.

“please, yes it is, but please don’t touch it.” He was sweating, not from the heat as it never bothered him, but with nervousness. Really, what could he do about a bored ghost? If she wanted to play with the katana, there wasn’t really much he could do about it to stop her. “it’s taken me a long time to get this far and I’m running behind as it is.”

Chara tilted her head, blinking before she nodded. “Okay. I get it. This your job?” She looks to him in wonder, like she couldn’t believe that this skeleton monster was capable of making weapons.

Sans nodded, the wielding mask falling down. He grunted, lifting it back up in annoyance. Chara laughed, pointing at his face with a look of glee and hilarity. Sans smiled, he guessed the kid wasn’t so bad after all. She was just a rather bored ghost looking for any form of entertainment and since she couldn’t die, there was no consequence to herself. “yeah, I get paid to make swords for people. I can make other things, like woodwork but swords pay the best.”

“That’s so awesome. My dad just worked a boring IT guy or something. That’s what he always told me when I asked.” Chara pouted, crossing her arms around herself. “He never let me see what he was doing. Dad was a faggot anyway.” She shook her head, malice in her voice as she spoke of her own father. Sans blinked, he hadn’t expected it. She didn’t like her father, that much seemed clear, but she spat her opinions out about him like poison. Like he was worth the dirt under her shoes. Had he been that awful? Chara then looks up, like she had forgotten she had spouted venomous words about her father and put on a pout. “Can I watch you? It looks so cool! I promise, I’ll just watch. I’ll be good.”

Well. There was no reason why she couldn’t, if she was going to be quiet. If she was going to remain quiet and just watch. I mean, he did sometimes stream live his workings on, when he brought his laptop down he let people watch him whilst he worked. He couldn’t communicate back very well, he couldn’t read the chat from a small laptop, but it got some views and he enjoyed sharing his work. He’d just think of it as the same thing, just that there was going to be a real person in the same room as him. He nodded, giving her a smile.

“okay, sure. just don’t touch anything. I know nothing will hurt you, but I could get hurt if something went wrong, okay?”

Chara cheered, running up to give Sans a hug. She wrapped her small arms around his torso, he held his hands up in the air as if unsure what to do. She looked up at him with a wide smile. “I promise! This is gonna be so cool! Lesse lesse!”

Sans chuckled, patting her on the back and gestured to the chair she could sit in whilst he got to work. He continued where he had left off, but he had to dip the sword back into the furnace to get the silver a suitable temperature for melting. It only stayed the right temperature to melt for a short while and he had to make the most of it. He knew this was going to take a long time, the intricate detail the customer wanted, and he had told the customer as such. He seemed fine, so long he met the deadline set which Sans could accomplish. He was worried that Chara was going to find this part boring, he was having to work slowly and carefully, creating lines for the tiger’s stripes and the lines for the tiger’s body to appear moving and bold. He wanted a proud tiger, a powerful one, the biggest of the cat breeds. But Chara seemed happy enough to sit and watch with careful eyes.

He failed to notice, despite being soulmates, that his mate was looking through the door, watching him work on his sword. A smile was on her face as she watched Sans spending time with Chara, telling her how he was making the tiger, the kind of look he was going for the handle and Chara chipping in her ideas to make the tiger look fierce. They laughed and joked together all the while Sans was creating his sword.

Then, he asked Chara, still having not noticed Frisk was watching from the door. “hey, where’s your mum anyway?”

Chara shrugged. “Dunno, think she needed a break. Sometimes she finds it hard to appear, other times she just wants to hide in the forest. She likes being alone most of the time and I didn’t want to bother her today. So, I decided to come bother you! What’s with you and mum anyway?” Chara looked to Sans. “I mean, you seem cool. But I don’t want anyone hurting my mum again.”

Sans put his hands up. “hey, it’s okay. I just want what’s best for your mum. her and i had a nice chat last night, you’re too young to know so I won’t tell you. I just hoped I didn’t upset her, she didn’t seem upset last night. I think she just needs some time. honestly, I just want what’s best for her.”

Chara looked at him for a while. Then, apparently satisfied, she nodded and looked back to the almost complete tiger. “You missed a spot.” Chara laughed as Sans pushed her shoulder slightly.

Frisk smiled. Sans seemed to get along swell with Chara and her fears were unfounded. Perhaps this could work after all. Perhaps, her and him could… they seemed to get along, Sans could be a great father figure to Chara. Yes. Frisk sighed as she turned away from the scene. She would try, try her best, to get over her fears. She’d try for Sans. For her change at happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's sickening how domestic it is. Blackie here doesn't do domestic. Wtf is this. 
> 
> Welp. xD I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway~ I'll add more next chapter, hopefully an encounter with Frisk (rather than oh she watched in the distance like some freaking creepy stalker).
> 
> I'm also writing my own stories and fur stories over on Furaffinity! Check it out~ 
> 
> http://www.furaffinity.net/user/blackwolf2dragoon/


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frisk and Sans spend time together and it goes embarrassingly well as always. Papyrus then gets to meet his first human ghost!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can go on about why this is so late and why I haven't been posting lately on AO3. 
> 
> But I'll save that for the bottom of the page c: enjoy this writing for now!
> 
> Note; I apologise if I've repeated stuff or it's out of sync with the previous chapter. I've tried my best! ;.; small details are hard to catch.

Chapter 4

Sans found the next day passing by as normal, talking to his brother over dinner and watching a TV show. Papyrus loved watching cooking shows. On the occasion, Sans got to see Gordon Ramsey and marvel and laugh at the celebrity’s high temper. Never before did he think he would see someone with a worse temper than Undyne, Papyrus’ best friend.

Soon enough, Papyrus retired to his bedroom and Sans returned to working on his weapon commissions. He was falling slightly behind his schedule, though he didn’t mind it in the least. He could always catch up and he could always just let the commissioner know it might be a little later than anticipated. He could be vague about the reason why, it wouldn’t be a problem for him. He was used to being vague about most things.

He was working in his forge, when he felt a breeze of cold wind suddenly. Then his soul, suddenly excited and brimming with energy, leapt out in front of him. Shocked, he dropped the sword into the fire, swearing as he used magic to bring it back out, careful of his soul being so close and out in the open. _What the fuck!?_ Sans’ mind freaked, for what possible reason would his soul be so idiotic as to almost incinerate itself!?

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t think!” _Oh._ His soul danced, waving and pulling Sans to turn around, sword burning and still following his magic. It followed his line of sight, flying straight through Frisk, who didn’t seem to acknowledge the sword now stabbing through her body. She didn’t seem to realise that, with the sword touching her, her body dematerialised its solid form. She turned ethereal, pale blue, and her features were outlined in white. She looked like a true ghost, a real spirit now. Sans sometimes forgot, when he wasn’t paying attention to the horrific wound on her neck, that she wasn’t alive anymore.

Right in the middle of her chest, Sans couldn’t help but marvel. There, shining a pale blue just like the rest of her body, her soul hung there, stabbed by his sword. Only, his sword had completely phased through it. His own soul tugged at him, trying to push him closer to her. It needed to touch her. _It needed to._

He caught himself before he ended up dusting himself on the burning sword. He couldn’t put it down on the floor, burning hot as fire. He couldn’t risk the house catching fire, and so he carefully placed the sword on his anvil for now until he addressed the direct problem. Not Frisk, but his soul. As soon as the sword left the perimeter around Frisk herself, her body appeared solid once more, her normal colours returning, and Sans could almost forget what she was. As a result, her soul disappeared from his sight, a small whine left his mouth before he could stop it.

“I’m sorry, I thought… well, clearly I didn’t.” There was a sigh, as Frisk’s hand crunched near her chest.

“oh, no, no! it’s not your fault!” Sans tried quickly to pacify her, he didn’t fault her at all! “i’m still trying to get used to… you know…?” He began to sweat from nervousness. Ah, heck, he was really embarrassing himself in front of her, as if he hadn’t already ruined and ripped his ego apart already with his soul bouncing out of him whenever she got close. Something he’d soon have to get control over, it simply wasn’t safe if he ended up dusting himself on an oven whilst cooking or something equally tragic.

Frisk looked up shyly, her hands still clutching where her soul was hiding. She nodded her head in understanding. “I can imagine. It must be pretty shocking each time.” _Shocking was a word for it,_ Sans thought. “I just… I wanted to thank you for keeping Chara company. I know she can be a handful sometimes.”

Sans blushed slightly, his face hinting a light blue colour as he smiled uneasily, rubbing the back of his head. He was tempted to pull his jacket hood over him but refrained. Just. “o-oh. no, she’s no trouble at all. she was just happy to watch me work, it reminded me a lot of paps before he got a job.” He looked to her, smiling at the memory of a young Papyrus shouting excitedly as he watched from a reasonable distance Sans working away at making his first ever sword. He’d started out with woodworking, making chests and whatever else people liked to commission him for. What had been a hobby turned into a job, his curiosity turned into something that kept him living, rather than surviving. He quit his shit job to do this, work hours he was entirely comfortable with and it meant he got to spend more time with his brother than he did his previous shitty job.

Frisk smiled, watching the far away look on Sans’ expression. “You really care a lot about your brother.”

Sans nodded his head, “more than anything else. nothing else matters but pap.”

Frisk nodded in agreement, looking back down to her hands as she spoke. “I feel the same with Chara. Nothing else really matters, but so long as Chara is as happy as I can make her. I already failed to keep her safe, so this is the next best thing I can hope for her.”

The skeleton stood, unsure if whether to ask about it. Unsure if it would bring up bad memories, or if she would turn away or disappear. “is her dad…?”

Frisk seemed to only shrug her shoulders. “He’s gone. Though, Chara has never been fond of him. I don’t blame her, he wasn’t there for her at all. I thought I had loved him, but he never wanted a child. He’d completely changed the moment Chara entered our lives.”

Sans felt his soul twinge in sympathy, hearing her admit such a thing. He offered her a chair, the chair Paps used to always sit in to watch him work. She took it, a grateful smile on her face. “if you… if you wanna talk about it… i mean… i’m no good at sensitive stuff but…”

She chuckled, rubbing her right eye with the sleeve of her arm. “Yeah, so am I usually.” Sans smiled, at least she was laughing and making the best out of a shit situation. Oh, he sure wished he could give her a hug, anything to comfort her. And yet, he sat uselessly watching the spirt try to claw her way back from the depression cloud that hung over her. How could she not be depressed? She was a ghost trapped on Earth and unable to communicate with most other people. Besides him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. It’s just… it’s been me and Chara for so long…”

Sans blinked. “oh, no that’s not…” he cleared his throat. “i can’t imagine living alone with only one other person for so long. at least papyrus has friends he can visit that are not far away, undyne and alphys living nearby we visit them once a week.”

“I didn’t think it was a problem, until now.” Frisk spoke, she was looking to the floor, looking at her feet as she spoke downwards, aware that the monster beside her could hear everything. “I thought I was fine, I was getting by and Chara was happy, so nothing else mattered.” Her voice cracked. Sans felt his soul weaver, almost pulling at him to hug her, or do _something_ rather than stare looking sorry for her. He rationed that his soul hugging her would probably make things worse. The concept of the soul was still very new to her. _One step at a time!_

“well… chara seems rather pleased and happy. in fact, i think she loves being a ghost.”

“I mean… when she has friends to play with, she doesn’t really mind being a ghost, but we’re tethered here. We can’t go beyond the picket fences. There’s a reason people don’t stay long in this house, Chara ends up chasing them all away.” Frisk rolls her eyes. “She saw one Ghostbusters film.”

Sans blinked, head tilting in thought. Then, he laughed. Frisk, surprised, watched in fascination as he laughed, his mouth open and she took in the fact that his mouth was an empty abyss. Whilst she was completely see through in her original form, Sans was an anomaly, a skeleton that should be see-through, simply wasn’t. Then again, she could hide herself from anybody if she so desired. Perhaps… they had that in common?

“tell me, she saw slimmer and saw him as a role model? figured there’s no real ghostbusters but priests with crosses hoping to vanquish demons, so there’s absolutely no punishment.”

Frisk paused. “You could say that. I’m amazed they haven’t called a priest here to do an exorcist. I’ve… I’ve actually no idea if that works or…”

Sans looks to Frisk. Then realises, of course, Frisk hadn’t been dead for that many years. Most cases he remembered hearing about were souls that had been lost for hundreds of years. Frisk was… well, he had no idea. A few years was the best answer he got regarding that enquiry. It lay anywhere between three to ten years. Long enough to become used to being ethereal, yet not long enough that a monster hadn’t moved in until now.

“well, if me and paps are welcome here, then you probably won’t find out for a very long time.” He smiled, hoping that would at least put her at ease.

It seemed to. The woman looked to Sans, grateful with a big smile on her face. It even brought laughter out of her! Sans felt his pupils react, a feeling akin to the feeling of moving your eyeballs fast looking from one side to the other. He knew his eyes were doing something embarrassing, but he felt himself powerless to want to do anything about it.

“Of course you’re welcome here! You’ve been nothing but lovely to Chara and I. It’s… it’s been so nice to finally speak to… well, an adult.” She turned away, a smile on her face as she blushed.

_Well, fuckme, she’s adorable._ His soul agreed, popping out to dance right in front of her face, surprising her. Then, she laughed at his plight as his eyes turned normal and he scowled at his traitorous soul. It became courageous, more courageous than he had ever been in his entire existence. It flew up to her face, shining happily and excitedly as it shimmied and stroked her face.

Frisk, well, she saw it as cute. A happy little shining heart was dancing in her line of vision and just rubbed against her cheek, much like a puppy would. She smiled, reciprocating the gesture and the soul shined only brighter.

Sans was a completely different story. His entire body froze, then shuddered almost uncontrollably for a second as if ice had been poured over him and his skeleton only just caught up with that fact. He brought a fist to his mouth, covering it as his tongue manifested instantly and a desperate moan left his mouth he tried to cover up for a cough. Sans crossed his legs, his entire skull blushing a bright turquoise as he most definitely felt the after effects of his soul touching her… well, spirit. Somehow or another, he felt her, her soft flesh almost like velvet against his own soul, cushioning and comforting. Like being enveloped in the softest blanket he had ever lay on. But the very idea, his _soul_ was _touching her._ Oh, he covered his crotch entirely with his legs and shorts the best he could, despite being a skeleton. When she nuzzled back into his soul, oh he almost could’ve dusted himself right then and there in utter humiliation. Never before had he lost control of his body so badly. He kept his legs crossed harder, refusing to wiggle whatsoever and became stiff as a board. His second moan was louder than the first and he turned to biting down on his fist to stop himself, trying to cover his mouth entirely and growled to cover up his mistake. He probably looked like a right twat. His hands dug into his shorts with the effort of holding himself back, his fucking soul was going to bloody…! He was molesting Frisk at this point! Or well, not intentionally, his soul was, his fucking primal self was purring with pleasure and he shivered in both delight and disgust with himself.

_There was no consent given! She has no idea what you’re doing!_

“Sans? What’s wrong?” _Oh good lord!_ Sans peaked an eye look to Frisk, who was still holding his soul carefully like it was glass, a delicate little thing _he was gonna fucking-!_

Sans tried his best to put on a façade, a false wide smile, his teeth bright as he clenched them closed to keep his tongue in its cage. “y-yes? just… uncomfortable…” He nods his head to his soul, who paid no attention at all to the seriousness of the situation at hand.

At first, Frisk seemed blank. Utterly confused. “Oh, does it hurt? But… it seems like it, he, wants to be pet.”

_OH, I KNOW. I KNOW. THAT’S THE PROBLEM._ He tensed and kept his tongue back, looking away, trying to think through another ripple of euphoria of his soul snuggling like a cat would his owner. “u-uh. y-yeah. it’ll do thaa-at. i-it’s a… amatingritual.” He let out quickly, hoping she’d get the memo really, really badly. When she was still confused, he couldn’t NOT tell her. “it’s wooing! just…!” Something registered in his urgency and she dropped his soul, backing away and he could finally get a grip. His senses returning, he grasped hard on his soul, yanking it violently back into his body. He gasped, grasping at his chest like he was drowning, but he absolutely refused to move otherwise, not until his body calmed down.

“W-wooing? What was I…?” Sans risked a glance. She… she didn’t seem disgusted, but worried. She was worried!? About him? She shouldn’t be! He was doing something… so taboo! If Tori ever found out about it, mark his words he’d be a skeleton in danger of the woman’s wrath. Let he never speak of it to her. Ever. But, he was going to do what was right. He was going to explain to her exactly what was happening. As… as easy as it sounds just to tell her.

“you remember I told you… my soul is the culmination of my entire being?” He waited until she nodded her head before he continued. “my… my _self_ , was rubbing itself against you. everything I am, is that heart. I was… my soul was molesting you, to put it simply. It’s our _entire_ being, everything we are.”

He couldn’t watch her reaction, was too scared to see it. Coward, he scolded himself. But, he told her. He felt better for it, even if his soul was crumbling at him, instantly depressed and expecting the worst. Panicking, freaking out, yowling, expecting utter rejection after he explained it like that. He flinched, doing his utmost to ignore the feelings, the soulbind that was yanking at him angrily. He had no choice! He couldn’t live with the guilt of… of carrying on. He couldn’t! It wasn’t right!

Yet, Frisk continued to surprise him! She suddenly looked horrified, the kind of horrified he expected and he braced himself for an attack, or perhaps more likely a shouting match against him, and he would take it all. But no!

“Oh, and I was… oh my God, I’m so sorry! I didn’t think… I had no idea! I thought it was just… sweet and… oh, I’m sorry, so sorry, jesus, I’ve broken so many personal barriers.” She seemed like she was whilst not panicking, she was upset. With herself.

Sans blinked incredulously. She was, blaming herself? But she had no idea, it was a custom that wasn’t spoken about freely, considering it is a private affair between two monster mates most of the time and not something shared openly. It was only taught to monster teens when they were deemed old enough to know.

“you’re… it’s not your fault, frisk.” He explained to her, he wanted to reach for her but felt he’d already done enough damage. “i-i knew and yet… it’s despicable that i didn’t stop or say anything sooner, i’m no better than a wild animal.” The skeleton was quick to lift his hood over his head, even if it wasn’t a literal shield, he felt a little bit safer with his skull nuzzled into the inner fur of his parka.

His skull shot up in shock when he felt something touch his hands. Or… it wasn’t quite a touch, but almost like a cold wind brushing against his hands. Frisk’s hands became see through, ethereal as she attempted to touch his hands. Was she… trying to comfort him?

“No, don’t blame yourself! I should’ve known. You already told me, a monster soul is their everything and so it would make sense that you were… sensitive.” She coughed, a small smile on her face as if she found somewhat humour from that. Or, a shy smile? Sans couldn’t tell. “I was taught in school about monsters, some differences. I had monster friends and I had a close monster friend when I was a teen. It’s how I know about soul binding.” _Oh._ Sans blinked. Of course, she already knew about soul binding, figured she must’ve either seen it before or heard of it to know what was happening when Sans’ soul came out and hers didn’t. “Besides, they always say it takes two to tango.”

Sans grinned, “well, _orange_ you glad we’re so similar?” And yet, so different.

Frisk blinked as she took in just what he said. “Orange…?” Then, she giggles. “That’s terrible!”

That’s how Sans found himself grinning ear to ear, ready to torture Frisk some more with his hilarious puns. It was the longest conversation that Frisk had had in a long, long time. It’d been a long time since Frisk had last laughed and really meant it, found genuine hilarity out of someone else’s actions. Whilst she loved Chara and would very much live out the rest of her spiritual life with her daughter, it wasn’t until now that she realised she had been very lonely for adult company.

The pair continued to chat, more Frisk asking what the world is like outside and the news, recent events she might’ve missed from being stuck in a single garden nobody visits. Sans keeps working on his sword commission, the earlier panic of his soul jumping out of him almost entirely forgotten and the event put on hold for a talk about another day when they were more comfortable with each other. And that’s what was happening, the pair forgetting about everything else and simply trying to learn about the other. Frisk asking about Sans’ childhood and growing up with Paps, along with Frisk’s childhood of getting along better with monsters than with most of the other children at school.

They continued with their catch up well into the night, until the sun began to rose and Frisk, before she could say goodbye, suddenly vanished from his sight. She seemed to phase out of existence, like the UV rays of the sun banished her from the realm of the living. Sans blinked, surprised and shouted her name, but he realised quickly it was futile. Chara had told him, when the sun rose, the ghosts find it a lot harder to appear, and so most of them don’t come out. Some seemed entirely unaffected in Sans’ experience, but he supposed Frisk was a strange one.

…

Days passed by in a similar manner. Sans and Frisk would talk to each other most nights, when she doesn’t, Chara would come into the room sometimes to watch Sans work on his commissions. He had finished the sword and was ready to wrap it up in bubble wrap and paper, ready to post in a box for the commissioner.

Things seemed to be going in a steady rhythm, becoming a somewhat normal routine. Sans was currently eating dinner with Papyrus with the telly turned onto the news channel. They were enjoying the quaint quiet, when the tv remote suddenly flicked off the chair arm. Sans jerked his head in that direction, spotting a blur of green escape out of the room.

Papyrus turned an accused glare in his direction. “NOW THERE WAS NO NEED FOR THAT SANS!”

Said brother blinked, at first confused. Then, he looked hurt, feigned of course. “hey, that wasn’t me, bro. i was sat over here.”

“I KNOW WHAT YOUR MAGIC CAN DO. IF YOU WANTED TO CHANGE THE CHANNEL ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS ASK.” The TV had changed channel, somehow the ghost had changed it to the CBBC channel showing a kid’s cartoon. _Perhaps Chara is trying to send a message? Aka, she’s bored?_ Sans pondered, it was very possible. She probably wasn’t used to her mother getting any attention at all and Sans could only speak on behalf of his brother’s attention, he knew he’d become jealous if Papyrus’ attention was taken elsewhere. “ALTHOUGH, THIS IS A STRANGE SHOW.”

“well, remember how I said there was a child ghost living in this house, paps? maybe that was her telling us something?” Sans kept his neutral grin on, he found it hard to act a little clueless with Paps, but he wasn’t really keeping anything secret from him either. He honestly was guessing this to be the reason behind the changed channel.

“OF COURSE! YOU STILL HAVEN’T INTRODUCED ME! HOW RUDE, SANS!”

“Yeah, Sans! So rude!” Papyrus eeped loudly as a voice spoke just besides him. Chara must’ve been showing herself out in the open, as the skeleton looked her over in amazement, then horror as he noticed the giant kitchen knife sticking into her stomach. _Oh yeah._ Sans had kinda… forgotten about that. Or rather, ignored its existence as a norm. She wasn’t dripping with blood the first time Sans had met her, but her intention wasn’t to scare this time. That Sans could tell, at any rate.

Papyrus remained speechless, his eye sockets blinking several times, trying to decipher whether Chara was merely an aberration, his imagination or truly there, showing herself for the first time. It was the first time Sans had ever seen him so speechless, not even his first meet up with his favourite celebrity Mettaton had had the young excitable skeleton so speechless.

Then, to Sans’ relief, the skeleton didn’t panic. He didn’t freak out, run away or start screaming, the many scenarios that Sans himself had almost done on numerous occasions. Instead, the younger brother turned to his older brother. “SANS THAT… THAT’S YOUR GHOST?”

San’s head had ducked under his jacket, his eyes and top of his skull the only thing visible. He had been afraid of Papyrus’ reaction to Chara’s appearance, and although he had tried his best to warm Paps up to the eventuality of them meeting, he hadn’t been entirely sure if Paps would be okay with it. He had entirely forgotten to mention said ghost clearly showed how she died.

“y-yeah. well, that’s chara, the ghost kid that likes pranks.”

“OH YES I REMEMBER! GREETINGS PHANTOM!” Papyrus began his signature greeting, posing heroically and his cape he refused to take off began fluttering, as if a breeze blew inside the house. “I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS. THOUGH, JUST PAPYRUS WILL DO! I AM SORRY MY BROTHER WAS SO NEGLECTFUL IN INTRODUCING ME SOONER!” Sans didn’t react to his brother’s shortcoming, he knew that it meant no harm.

Chara’s smile widened in excitement as Papyrus introduced himself. “I’m Chara! You look awesome, skeleton! Did your brother make your armour?”

“OH HO! SO YOU KNOW OF MY BROTHER’S TALENTS?” It was something Papyrus loved to boast about. His brother loved Sans’ work, loved to watch it if it was possible and sometimes Papyrus helped Sans out by trying the weapons’ balancing. Whilst he wasn’t the greatest expert, Sans couldn’t help but let his little brother enjoy himself. Knights in shining armour, that was Papyrus’ dream.

“Yeah! Sans lets me see him work sometimes late at night when I get bored! It’s so cool, I wish I could have a sword.”

“now, kid, I’d love to make you one.” Sans butted in, not to ruin the kid’s dream, but to remind her that swords were not toys and dead or not, Chara could kill someone else if she ever played with them. He wasn’t sure Chara could even do much with a sword, being incorporeal and all that. “but you gotta have responsibilities, a sword is still a weapon at the end of the day, same as a gun is. maybe-” Sans stopped there. He had been about to say ‘maybe when you’re eighteen’, however, the fact of the matter was, Chara could never be eighteen. She would never be an adult, at least in terms of her body and possibly mentally. She’s stuck eternally in her child self.

“NOW, NOW SANS! I SAY WE CAN LET HER TRY!” Papyrus beamed, looking to the ghost child who looked deflated. As Papyrus said that, Chara looked up in pleasant surprise. “YOU MAY ALREADY BE A GHOST. BUT I SAY YOU’VE EXISTED FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS?” Chara nodded, whether it was true or not Sans had no idea, but Papyrus seemed to believe her. “EXCELLENT. SEE SANS? SHE’S AN ADULT!”

“i-i’m not sure i can make a sword for…” _Incorporeal beings._ “children.” He uttered instead.

“NONSENSE, YOU MADE ME A SWORD WHEN I WAS YOUNG! PERHAPS WE COULD THINK IT OF AN OFFERING? I HEARD SOMEWHERE GHOSTS LOVE OFFERINGS.”

“Yes! I would love a sword Sans! C’mon! I’m always so bored and you always end up spending time with mum, I got nobody else to bother! I’ll be nice to you, I won’t be a pain when you’re with my mum, honest, please?” And cue the puppy dog eyes. The whole cuteness factor wore when you could still see the steak knife plunged into her chest, but she still had the kid begging face down to a T. Sans tried his best to resist, to look away from the hypnotising gaze.

“AW, BROTHER, AT LEAST GIVE HER A WOODEN SWORD TO PRACTISE! LIKE YOU DID ME.” And his brother ganging up on him just wasn’t… that wasn’t very fair. But, he had a point. A wooden sword would get her started and understand that she would have to be careful. Not to mention… it would mean she could spend time doing something and she might even be able to spend time with Papyrus now that she could show herself. Maybe even be a friend with him… a new friend, close friend that Papyrus had been hoping for.

“okay. if i get time between commissions, i’ll make ya a wooden sword.” Sans smiled, stuffing his hands into his parka jackets. Just as Chara decided to shriek like an excited child and rush at Sans, knocking into his body (somehow?) and hug him tightly. Shocked Chara could do such a thing, he could feel her as if she were a real person, the touch much less prominent than he expected, and his clothes didn’t shift to show Chara was really hugging him like he expected. It felt… almost like Chara was manipulating his soul. Not maliciously, simply in a way that she felt like she was really there, really alive, giving the illusion of a hug from a real person. To think, a small child such as Chara really grew into the element of becoming a ghost, seemed to have better control over her own abilities and felt more real, more _there_ than Frisk did. What gives with that? How was that possible? He assumed that Chara and Frisk were killed in the same way, around the same time and by the same person. Somehow, their circumstances were different. It was strange, an oddity Sans wanted to figure out, but having no way to know where to even begin.

“Thanks Sans! You’re pretty awesome! I suppose I can let you hang out with my mum. You’re cooler than my dad was anyway!” She beamed a smile, then turned to Papyrus. “Have you still got your sword? I gotta see it!”

Papyrus posed. “NYEH HEH HEH! OF COURSE, PHANTOM! BUT BE WARNED, I HAVE SLAIN MANY MOTHS WITH THIS BLADE!” _And furniture, plenty of furniture._ Sans added in his head, thankful that so far Papyrus hadn’t managed anymore. Though, he felt a slump in his shoulders. Today might be the day a piece of furniture may get the first casualty.

“Moths? How do you do that!? They fly so quickly though!”

Papyrus seemed like he was going to reply with another jape, probably along the lines of “I’ll show you!” Sans butted in quickly, trying to control the situation at least a tiny bit before the monsters went out to play. “don’t break stuff, remember paps? we got kicked out last time, please be careful?”

Papyrus saluted. “OF COURSE, I THE GREAT PAPYRUS AM THE MOST CAREFUL MONSTER. I’LL BE SURE THAT THERE WILL BE NO CASUALTIES!”

It was the best Sans could hope for. When the pair rushed up the stairs and into Papyrus’ room, Sans let out a breath of air and collapsed onto the sofa. Those two sure were a handful, he hadn’t been so social for a long time. Being in a social situation exhausted him sometimes, and he hadn’t properly woken up yet. He felt relieved though, Chara and Papyrus had finally met, something he figured would never work the way he planned. It went better than he had expected! He’d been worried Papyrus would hate living in this house, with not one but two ghosts in them, and not a monster ghost at that. Human ghosts and monster ghosts were similar, but different in their own way. It was the first time Papyrus had seen a ghost, Sans had never gotten close enough to want to introduce them to Paps and he wouldn’t have with these two ghosts if it hadn’t been for his soul. His soul binding.

He wondered how Paps would react if he saw Frisk. He doubted Frisk would show today, she had for the past couple of days and she looked exhausted the last time. A bad day, she called it, whatever that meant.

A knock on the door broke Sans out of his musings. He sighed exaggeratingly, who the hell was coming over at this time of the night? Groaning with the great effort it took for him to get off his sofa, Sans slowly made his way to the door, yawning and rubbing his eye socket as he did so. He opened the door, murmured a ‘hey’ into his sleeve as he struggled to keep away and took notice of his visitor.

Oh.

A yellow nervous dinosaur wearing glasses and a nice blue floral dress. Behind her, a towering woman wearing a V neck and an eye patch. She was carrying a sword in it’s holster, wrapped in bubble wrap last minute and she was grinning ear to ear. Sans eyes widened as he realised Paps must’ve called them over to watch the spectacle of a ghost girl. _He was too tired for this shit._

“Ey nerd! Heard you had a ghost here?”

_He was way too tired for this shit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEAH I like, couldn't think of a better ending and since I'm evil here's a cliffhanger ish thing whatever. Enjoy it :P 
> 
> LONG NOTES ON WHY I WAS ABSENT BELOW. IF YOU DON'T CARE, COOL. DON'T READ THEN. Kudos me plz tho. ;.; xD!
> 
> Excellent. There's a good reason why I haven't updated in ages: I've been working on other things! Namely, COMMISSIONS. That's right! I'm doing writing as more than a hobby now. Over on Furaffinity, I've been taking in commissions and writing for people for a price. Obviously, this takes presidence over fanfics and this is why I haven't been updating. I have missed writing fanfics though, I've missed not finishing these plot lines up and I still day dream of them from time to time. So, I do want to finish these off and not leave people hanging. 
> 
> I've no idea how many people still enjoy these, honestly. I'm not sure if anyone even reads my stuff here anymore. AO3 doesn't make it easy to tell. So, with regard to that. I'm not taking requests at all. I haven't got the time to write what I want and commission and what other people want for free. Nope. SO, I will still be writing fanfics, from time to time, but the update times will be much slower I'm afraid. I am writing most days, almost every day! It's just not fanfics most of the time. These fanfics will be written for me, for my own peace of mind and for a creative outlet. A way to write what I want to write and let loose! Hoping you guys' don't mind, but I don't force you to read so~ 
> 
> You can see my other work here; http://www.furaffinity.net/user/blackwolf2dragoon/
> 
> You can follow my twitter too if you fancy! I don't post often, but I'm around and kicking there! @alice_clawford
> 
> I think that's all. I'm still alive and sorry I haven't posted lately, but that's what has been happening! I'm still around! :P Hope you enjoyed and hope to post again soon!
> 
> ~Blackie

**Author's Note:**

> So, Chara is dead. Yup. 
> 
> Well, I do hope you will enjoy this fic~ I have no idea how long this fic is going to be, but I hope to get it done at least this year. I write long chapters, so this might be a challenge actually and often post once a month. Making this six chapters possibly. Let's see how long this takes :P
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this story! thanks for the Kudos and comments! I read them all even if I don't get the chance to reply to them <3 Have a good day my lovelies~
> 
> ~Blackie


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